They'll Never See It Coming
by ZombieGuy96
Summary: A "what if" scenario where Akira's confidants in crime are also forced to infiltrate Shido's palace and what lays beyond, with the dangers present in the palace, how will the extended phantom thieves fates change? and how will they change fate?
1. Confidants Calling

_**12/15- After school**_

"Shit... shit... shit... shit..."

These thoughts raced through Sae Niijima's mind as she power walked through the backstreets of Yongen-jaya, she had hoped her message had reached Akira and that he had done the smart thing and called everyone (and she meant, everyone) to Café Leblanc, because they were nearly out of time. Him and the others being able to mastermind his own death to avoid ruin was pure genius and she had to smile at her own sister for helping to craft such a complex, yet successful plan of action against their foes.

She nearly bumped into an old couple, quickly swerving to the side of them, she took a turn towards Leblanc.

But that wasn't enough.

They had to act now, otherwise they were all doomed.

Reaching the familiar site of Café Leblanc, Sae smiled to herself and opened the door.

* * *

The sound of the door opening drew all eyes towards Sae Niijima, judging by the fact the sign had been turned to closed, they knew it couldn't be any normal customer and the series of texts Sae had sent her sister were followed precisely by the look of things.

* * *

 _Makoto, tell Akira to get everyone and I mean everyone, who knows about the true identity of the Phantom Thieves into Café LeBlanc in the next hour_

Makoto had read the text with widened eyes and faced Akira directly as the rest of the group leaned in closer.

"What is it?" Ryuji eventually asked, "What did your sister want Makoto?"

Makoto gulped and typed a reply.

 _Okay, are you coming to Leblanc too?_

The reply was instant.

 _Yes, this is serious, tell nobody to leave, I'm already heading over_

"Makoto?" Ryuji persisted.

The student council president sighed and turned to face Akira.

"My sister wanted... she wants me to tell you, that everybody who might know who the Phantom Thieves are, need to be in Leblanc in the next hour".

There was a short silence.

"What?" he eventually asked.

"Everyone who knows" Makoto repeated.

"I thought it was just you guys, me and your sister who knew about this" Sojiro piped up, the aged café owner was listening intently to their conversation.

"There are more" Akira admitted quietly.

"More!?" Haru and Sojiro inquired at the same time.

"Well... we know Mishima's one..." Ann mumbled.

"Mishima?" Haru inquired once again "Whose...?"

"He's the admin of the Phansite" Ann explained "He clocked on it was us pretty early on, but hasn't told anyone, as for the others... Akira" she said turning to face him.

"They haven't and promised not to tell anyone either" he admitted.

"Don't you think it would have been wise to let us know about this?" Makoto inquired sharply "Even if they didn't intend to tell anyone, if the police or anyone else found out their identities, they could have been interrogated and tortured into revealing the fact you are still alive or the identity of the rest of us".

There was damning silence in the café at Makoto's analysis.

"I didn't think it was anything to worry about" Akira finally admitted "Besides... they've been helping us..."

"Helping, don't you have any idea how reckless you've been!?" Sojiro demanded, an angry bite in his voice "Keeping these secrets from your teammates, letting people run loose who know who you are!? Don't you realise how high the stakes are here! THIS ISN'T A GAME!" He suddenly bellowed, causing many of the Phantom Thieves to jump.

Akira didn't look at him, but was on his phone, already sending off the first texts to his partners in crime.

"The weapons, medicines and items we've obtained and tactics we've learned in battle is mostly thanks to these people" he eventually responded "I didn't want anyone to worry about this, we had enough on our plates already and the people who know, fully support us and have proven themselves trustworthy, remember the bounty placed on our heads?"

There was silence at this.

"How much was it? 30 million yen? These people knew about that, they knew what they could have profited by handing us over and yet they didn't" he muttered, before he looked up from his phone, (the last text message being sent) he faced Sojiro and muttered "I know better than anyone else that this isn't a game, but I haven't just told or confided in anybody about our secret. I trust these people more than you realise and I believe they trust me too".

"Enough that they'll all come running at once, at your call?" Sojiro challenged.

A short hesitation and then a defiant "Yes" from Akira.

Sojiro sighed but didn't pursue the topic any further.

"But still dude... trust and all that stuff..." Ryuji muttered.

"I'm sorry I didn't share this information" Akira replied "I trust all of you as well, I just didn't want to overcomplicate matters".

"Akira..." Makoto moaned, she knew how cool and quietly confident he was and his words now had almost and very nearly _almost_ convinced her that everything would be fine and he had made the right choice in keeping these people a secret from the rest of them. Yet she found she couldn't agree with this.

"Everything about our plans and schemes has been... overcomplicated in a way" she muttered "As our leader I'm disappointed that you felt the need to keep this from us, yes..." she began, as she could seem him about to protest against her point "I can understand you took time and effort to gain the trust and support of these people and that their support has helped us more than we can realise, but in future they'll be no more secrets, we need to be up to date on everything, understood?".

Despite the circumstances, Akira felt himself smile at her.

"Understood, captain".

"Wow, Queen really gave you a grilling there Joker" Morgana pointed out unhelpfully, his voice as smug as ever.

"and did you know about this too, Morgana?" Makoto said, turning to where the cat was perched on a nearby stool "Seeing as you accompanied Akira here almost everywhere, surely you had an inkling of this as well?"

"Oh crap" Morgana uttered "I err... I wasn't too sure, I... I..."

"Sounds guilty to me" Ryuji said.

"Hey, shut it!" Morgana snapped.

"You don't realise how strange you all look, yelling and talking to a cat" Sojiro pointed out.

"If you could understood how smug this thing is, you'd yell at it too, boss!" Ryuji (ironically) yelled.

"I'm a human, not a thing! How dare you..." Morgana began to rant, as he and Ryuji got into another one of their shouting matches, while Haru, Ann and Futaba moved in to settle the dispute, (Ann eventually losing her cool and joining in with the yelling, Haru simply giving up and Futaba grinning to ear to ear and yelling random words into the fray). This left Akira to look down at his texts, Makoto watched him closely, while Yusuke was busy (for whatever reason) framing the chaotic scene in front of him with his fingers and humming to himself.

* * *

Tae Takemi was the first to arrive.

Seeing as she was a stone's throw from the café, it would make sense for her to arrive first. The argument between Ryuji and Morgana was still in full swing, when the sound of the door opening ceased all their arguments and an unusual silence befell them all, compared the chaos merely seconds beforehand.

"Oh... hello" Takemi eventually said, looking around at them all, "So... um what's all this about then? Some secret Phantom Thieves meeting?"

"Well that would be about right Doc" Sojiro said.

"What, you're a phantom thief too old man?" Takemi muttered, her eyes widening.

"Me, no!" Sojiro exclaimed "I couldn't keep with these kids anyway, I just happened to find out about them".

"Makes sense seeing how you are the legal guardian to their leader" Takemi said, before she shrugged her shoulders and looked at the group in front of her "So, this is the famous group of the Phantom Thieves, a few Shujin students and a cat?"

"I'm actually from Kosei High" Yusuke pointed out.

Takemi rolled her eyes.

"Right, very subtle" and without so much as another word, she took the stool next to the one Morgana had occupied "You mentioned the Phantom Thieves in your message Akira, so what's up? I knew something serious had to have happened for you to text me out of the blue, for me to close my clinic, bring plenty of medicine over and meet up in LeBlanc"

"Something serious has happened, did you bring the medicine?" Akira inquired.

"Of course" Takemi replied, gesturing inside her handbag which looked bloated with the stuff "You know sleeping with me, was a great way to earn my trust in gaining these original remedies".

Makoto felt her face turn pink, as Akira's went red at her blunt suggestion, if the café was quiet beforehand, right now it was full with stunned white noise.

"That's... Akira! Did you... Did you honestly...!?" Makoto began to seethe, however before he could deny it, Takemi was already laughing for everyone to see.

"Ah, so you do have a girlfriend, how cute"

"She's not my... Makoto we didn't... well not we, we... but me and Doctor Takemi..."

"You called me Tae beforehand"

"No, Akira, I... listen, doctor Takemi he's not my boyfriend, I just... well..." Makoto spluttered.

Tae Takemi continued to laugh at them for around another minute, before her chuckles subsided.

"Okay, okay, I've had my fun. But why'd you want us to meet up now, and why did you want me to bring so many meds?"

"You'll see" Akira muttered.

Tae turned to speak to Sojiro on the whole matter, seeing as more people who be arriving, he was already preparing a feast and drinks for everyone, with Tae making her request first. As everyone else got back to discussing matters, Makoto leant in close to Akira in a voice that couldn't be overheard by the others.

"So you've picked up on it as well" Makoto muttered, her tone serious having recovered from the previous embarrassment "But are they ready for this Akira? if what I think is happening is actually happening..."

"They'll have to be ready and we'll need all the supplies we can get".

"We don't even know what Shido sees the diet building as yet..."

"We have to find out tonight then, or the game is truly over".

Makoto gulped, she could try and pry about it all she wanted, but both herself and Akira had already deciphered the conclusion about Sae's texts.

and it wasn't good news at all.

* * *

"So what's the scoop!?"

Ichiko Ohya strolled into LeBlanc as if she did so everyday, the place smelt of tobacco, coffee beans and had a general homely aura too it, it took her eyes seconds to adjust to how crowded it was, she spotted Akira straight away along with the same two blonde's that had been present with him outside Madarame's shack.

"So... you guys are the Phantom Thieves?" she inquired right away, looking around at the group, more Shujin students she didn't recognise, a cat, the café owner and a doctor in a black jacket, fishnet leggings and a choker round her neck, a goth girl through and through and one Ohya faintly recognised.

"Hey, your the Journalist who was outside Madarame's place!" The blonde boy yelled directly at her.

"and you were the kids with Akira here" Ohya replied "Greetings by the way, so what's the situation? I read Phantom Thieves meeting in the text you sent me and had to rush on over, so... what's the deal?"

"Take a seat and I'll explain" Akira told her "I guess it's good for introductions sake, everyone this is Ohya, she's a Journalist whose been helping us from behind the scenes, Ohya, as you can probably tell, we're the Phantom thieves".

"What a ragtag group!" Ohya muttered, her eyes wide and excited "God, this will make the scoop of my career, is that what this is? Are you all going public with your identities! Am I...?"

"Slow down" Akira told her "You remember your partner, the one you found was alive but in a bad way"

Ohya's eyes instantly darkened.

"Kayo, yeah" she muttered "What about...?"

"You wanted evidence that what happened to her was related to Shido, right?"

"Yeah" she muttered again, "Wait, are you saying...?"

"Are goals are going to align here, but all you need to know for now, is that we're going to steal the heart of Masayoshida Shido and make him confess his crimes".

"HELL YEAH!" Ohya bellowed so loudly, that Takemi nearly dropped the cup of coffee she was holding "Ever since Kayo, I just knew there was something wrong with Shido, but the guy is untouchable and beloved by everybody! It really pisses me off! To know the Phantom thieves are targeting him... it's just... like the perfect target! Taking out someone who would otherwise be above the law and have everyone on their side..."

"Well that's what we do!" Ryuji bellowed "Feels pretty good, don't it?"

"You can say that again kid" Ohya mused.

"As much as I appreciate all the support in the room, maybe we should keep it down" Takemi muttered "What if someone happens to be listening in, or if someone walks in?"

"Store's officially closed" Sojiro said, gesturing at the sign on the door.

"Won't look like it if everyone's crammed in here" Takemi pointed out.

"It's quiet at this time anyhow" Sojiro muttered.

"It's quiet all the time" Ryuji pointed out.

"Hey! Do you want this curry or not!?" Sojiro snapped.

"Oh yeah... sorry boss" Ryuji muttered, cheeks red, as Sojiro returned to his curry, he was about to ask Akira how many more were expected, so he knew how much curry to make. But he saw Futaba eyeing the stuff from the corner of his eye, smiling to himself he simply decided to make an excess amount, even if there was too much for everyone Futaba would probably end up eating it as she did love the stuff. Not that Sojiro could blame her and despite the circumstances this might have been a great chance to advertise the very best of his culinary ability, or simply give everyone something to look forward too in the "serious meeting".

Another chime at the door, drew his attention as he turned to see an middle aged man standing there in a business sort of sorts, followed closely by a woman with flowing blonde locks and lilac eyes, all attention was drawn from the brewing conversation between Phantom Thieves and their supporters towards the two new arrivals.

"Akira, it is great to see you once again!" the man said in a warm and welcoming tone.

"You too" Akira said "Guys for all of you who don't know this is Toranosuke Yoshida..."

"You mean, No Good Tora!" Ohya piped up before she could stop herself.

Yoshida flinched slightly, but allowed himself to smile.

"Well I should have expected..."

"I heard differently actually, I heard you are an actual, credible, politician" Takemi muttered, which really did help ease the smile on Yoshida's face "Sorry about the not-so warm welcome Yoshida" Takemi finished, casting a glare Ohya's way.

"Well, what else was I supposed to say!?" Ohya snarled at the bored-looking doctor "Besides aren't you the plague?"

"Aren't you misinformed?" Takemi snapped back "If you'd done your research, you'd know that Yoshida here was falsely framed for his past blunders, as was I with the director at the hospital I was expelled from, admitting to his mistakes regarding a certain medicine".

Ohya went for a witty retort, but found that her mind had gone blank.

"Now, now let's not fight" Yoshida said (Ohya was glad for his interference) "We are all in this together and have all been helped by the Phantom Thieves, so when Akira messaged me to come here and that it was important, I couldn't refuse the offer".

"Neither could I" the fortune teller agreed with him "Oh my apologies, hello everyone" she muttered, suddenly turning to face everyone else "My name is Chihaya Mifune, Akira here helped me regain confidence in myself and helped change the heart of the chairman of the organisation I used to be associated with".

"Same thing happened to me, considering a certain someone who was making my life very difficult" Ohya replied.

"Me three" Takemi added "While I'm sure everyone here appreciates the actions you took for us Akira, it did make it way too obvious you were Phantom Thieves, as you were the only one who knew our situations and whose hearts needed changing".

"I understand that, but it was the only course of action to take" Akira said "Besides I trusted you all, should you have found out".

"Or you are all just terrible at keeping secrets" Takemi noted "Seeing as this many people know and more are to come".

Akira paled slightly at this, as Makoto shook her head slightly "I'm honestly happy seeing how many people we helped, but chasing down those targets in Mementos, we knew who we were helping out, but not to the extent they could clock on our identities..."

"Makoto..."

"We have to be more careful from now on, seriously Akira" she said, her dark eyes boring into his own.

"But if we both know what's coming, then... what's the point of that anymore?" he inquired.

She sighed.

"As Morgana would say, don't do anything reckless..."

* * *

"...had no idea where Leblanc was located" Chihaya was telling them all, she was sat in another booth, next to Yoshida "But as I wondered the back streets I bumped into Yoshida here and we found it together, I couldn't believe we were both connected by the phantom thieves"

"Something about Akira and the way he handled situations we found ourselves in reminded me of the Phantom thieves and how they would behave" Yoshida mused, "Eventually I put two and two together and realised why Akira would want speaking skills from washed up, No Good Tora, I don't know how my teachings have helped the phantom thieves but I am glad they have done so".

"I'm sure Akira put them to good use old man" Futaba mused "After all he negotiates with shadows unlike anyone else, and persuades them too..."

"Shadows?" Yoshida inquired before he smiled and shook his head "I assure I'll know all the details later, but my word what a crazy situation I'm in, to be hearing all of this".

"I like all of this, everyone here seems so friendly" Haru chimed "But I must agree with what Makoto said earlier, we need to advise more caution in the future, wouldn't you all agree?"

"Well as much as his actions did help, it did make it obvious" Chihaya stated nervously casting a glance over at Akira.

"and as much as I agree with what the Phantom Thieves are doing, part of the trend made me slightly uncomfortable" Yoshida admitted "Rather than changing the hearts of those that needed to be changed, the public demanded change and Okumura ended up the victim of that".

"and then we were turned into the scapegoats for that!" Ryuji snapped.

"But you didn't actually kill Okumura, did you?" Ohya asked cautiously.

"Of course not!" Ann piped up hotly "We changed the hearts of scumbags, but we are not murderers! We got tricked by Shido and Akechi".

"I suppose it adds up" Ohya muttered "You wouldn't change the hearts of so many criminals and then just out of the blue decide to start killing them, it makes no sense".

"Yet the public have lapped it up" Takemi snapped "Anything their beloved Shido says, simply has to be true and his negative stance of the Phantom thieves has made him massively popular".

"and you also mentioned Akechi just then" Ohya muttered "As in Goro Akechi? The high school detective? The one who also held negative views of the Phantom thieves?"

"The very same" Akira muttered "But that will be explained later no doubt, all you need to know is, is that he is dangerous and he betrayed us".

"So... he was one of you at some point!?" Ohya asked.

"Something like that"

"Oooohhhh this is simply tooooooo juicy!" Ohya raved, "I can't believe all of this!"

"Neither can we" Haru muttered.

"But didn't Akechi side with the Phantom thieves regarding the death of your father?" Yoshida said to Haru.

"Yes, but we believe that was a simply a ruse to gain our trust" Haru explained to him.

"Despicable" Yoshida snarled "To use somebody's own death like that for a personal gain, but then again in the political world, the numerous strange accidents and incidents that have been occurring certainly seem to benefit Shido in tearing down the current Government and replacing it with his new vision."

"That's what we figured out" Makoto said "Everything links back to Shido"

As she said this the door to Leblanc opened once again and a shy girl, dressed in the blue robes of Kosei High walked slowly into Leblanc.

"Goodness" she breathed "I wasn't expecting so many people to be here".

"Hi Hifumi" Akira said, standing up to greet her "Everyone this is Hifumi Togo, she's here also as a supporter of the phantom thieves".

"It's a pleasure to meet you all" Hifumi said, bowing to them all, "Oh hello Yusuke" she said noticing the boy who went to the same school as her "I wasn't expecting to see you here, so... are you a phantom thief too?"

"Indeed" Yusuke replied "I hope your mother is treating you better, she didn't take kindly to us stealing her heart, suffice to say fighting her proved very difficult".

"I'm sorry to hear that" Hifumi said silently "But it seemed you emerged victorious because my mother's heart has changed drastically and now she is treating me much better..."

"Togo... ah yes the famous female shogi player..." Ohya began.

"Don't start" Takemi warned.

"I wasn't, I just going to point out, that..."

"Yes my mother fixed matches in my favour, but I have been trying to rebuild my reputation from scratch" Hifumi explained, a cold bite in her tone "But that's behind us and I want to move on, I don't mean to be rude, but you appear to be a member of the press and I've had bad run in's with the press..."

"Loads of people have, not like we're upstanding citizens or anything" Ohya muttered, before she switched her attention towards Sojiro , "Hey boss, you got any alcohol you can pour into this coffee?"

"No" he replied flatly.

"Damn it, this is gonna draaaaagggggggg!" Ohya moaned.

* * *

It had barely been five minutes since Hifumi had arrived and taken a seat next to Yusuke and Futaba that the door opened and Mishima ran in, Akira was quite surprised owing to his enthusiasm he expected Mishima to be the first to arrive, yet here he was, with as much as excitement and restless energy as Akira was expecting.

"Holy hell, is everyone here a Phantom Thief!? Mishima exclaimed.

"Hey come on man, the door's open, not so loud" Ryuji informed him.

"You have no idea how hypocritical that sounds coming from you" Makoto pointed out.

"Hey at least his learned something" Ann teased, punching Ryuji's arm lightly "Isn't that right Ryuji!?"

"Ah, Shuddup!" Ryuji snapped, as Sojiro closed the door and Mishima apologised for his outburst.

"Sorry, but isn't this just the freakin' best! The phantom thieves and all their supporters gathered for a super secret meeting!"

"Mishima..."

"I mean, I guess we're all going for the big target now! That's why we're all here! Finally I don't have to be on the side anymore! I can seriously kick some ass...!"

"Mishima, this meeting is going to be serious" Akira said cutting through him.

"Right, serious, I can do serious..." Mishima trailed off, in a voice that suggested he certainly couldn't do serious.

"So... is this a friend of your's or something?" Takemi asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry I forgot to introduce myself!" Mishima said his words tumbling out of his mouth at a million miles an hour "I'm Yuuki Mishima the official admin for the Phansite!"

He was meant to sound impressive, at least he did in his own head.

"Okay cool" was all Takemi said, as Mishima's face dropped.

"Erm... yeah it's great too meet you all..." however before he could finish the door was opened once again.

* * *

"Hi, I got your text and realised it must have been something serious..."

"Yes it was, hello Kawakami"

Their homeroom teacher smiled back at him, however she couldn't get another word in, before Ryuji bellowed, "MISS KAWAKAMI! YOU KNOW WE'RE PHANTOM THIEVES!"

"Well obviously otherwise I wouldn't be here" Kawakami snapped.

"Wait, our homeroom teacher knows this!?" Ann inquired of Akira.

"Yes"

"Our-homeroom-teacher" Ann muttered in disbelief.

"Yes"

"Dude, a teacher" Ryuji piped up.

"Our homeroom teacher" Ann added.

"What's wrong with you two?" Akira eventually asked, when they wouldn't stop gawping.

"No way, no way is this happening, this is just... too weird!" Ann exclaimed.

"After everything you've seen in the metaverse, you think this draws the line of... too weird?" Akira pointed out.

"I don't know!" Ann snapped "It's just... we were in class all this time and she knew about us being Phantom Thieves..."

"Well I only guessed, but I figured that if Akira was one, it was highly likely you were too Takamaki and you Sakamoto, but you too Okumura and Niijima!? This is quite a surprise for me too"

"Yes, but I guess this makes some sense, after all we did the change the hearts of that couple who were extorting you for money" Makoto noted "But I'm curious, how did you two become so close?"

"Kawakami offered me private tutoring sessions while she worked two jobs" Akira improvised on the spot "After some time, she began to vent her frustrations too me, I listened and began to trust her and she began to trust me and it just went from there..." Kawakami smiled at him for coming up with this, it wasn't technically a lie as she did work two jobs. But she didn't want the strangers in this room to know she worked as a maid, she wasn't entirely sure that would make the best first impression.

"So you're the homeroom teacher, interesting" Takemi noted.

"Yes, I'm Sadayo Kawakami, a pleasure to meet all of you" she said in her pre-used "maid" voice, which Akira quietly rolled his eyes at.

"Tae Takemi" the doctor began as the others began to introduce themselves to the teacher, who eventually took a seat in the booth opposite of Chihaya and Yoshida.

"So... is this everyone?" Kawakami asked.

"Just waiting for one more" Akira replied, looking down at his phone. He hadn't had time to check it with people constantly coming into the café, but in the span of around half an hour, almost everyone had turned up at his call. Some had texted back they were on their way, some (like Takemi) asked why in their texts but despite not receiving an answer had come along regardless. Akira noted that Iwai hadn't replied to his message, but the gun store owner had seen it, so he could only hope he turned up shortly, then he'd have everybody gathered.

* * *

...15 minutes later, Iwai had still not shown himself, Akira was beginning to get worried now, Sae's message had been sent in urgency and considering the circumstances they found themselves within, no warning could go unheard, if what he and Makoto suspected was true then it was more than likely that everybody needed to be present.

Or else it spelled danger and even death for everyone involved.

"...okay let me get my head around this..." Ohya was saying (clearly Akira's unease hadn't spread to everyone yet) "...The phantom thieves consists of five Shujin students, one shut in hacker, an art student from Kosei high and a cat and on top of that, the support group consists of a Blacklisted doctor, disgraced politician, a low life paparazzi, yours truly, a literal phanboy, a discredited high school shogi prodigy, the phantom thieves own homeroom teacher, a once fraudulent fortune teller and the owner of this café".

"That makes us sound worse than we actually are!" Mishima protested.

"Just pointing out the facts kid" Ohya said "I mean... what's next, a criminal!? Because that'll be the cherry on the top of this cake, just bring in a member of the Yakuza and we are sorted here folks!"

and as if by magic it was at this exact moment that Munehisa Iwai decided to make his presence known.

"Yo" he grumbled, shuffling into the store, his hat covering his eyes and Akira was surprised to see he had brought Kaoru along as well, the fourteen year old adopted son of Iwai smiled at them timidly, but he seemed to grow more confident and step out of his father's shadow when he saw Akira among the sea of strangers.

"Hey, I can't believe it! Dad told me, you guys are the phantom thieves, right!?"

Akira's eyes found Iwai's who simply sighed.

"Look, you know the kid's smart, he figured it out and after you sent that message too me and why I'd suddenly close the store to run for your assistance, he kept askin' and I didn't think it would do much harm to tell him the truth" Iwai said "Besides you were the one who told me to be honest with my son".

"Yes but not about this!" Akira wanted to scream back at him, instead he kept his mouth shut... he supposed it wasn't too bad, Kaoru seemed trustworthy and had mentioned admiring the Phantom thieves beforehand.

"So whose this then?" Ohya inquired "Our beloved Yakuza member of the team?"

Iwai's face reddened.

"Hey! What have you been tellin' em!?" the former Yakuza member snapped harshly at Akira "I don't appreciate you spreadin' the news I was once Yakuza".

"I didn't" Akira responded lamely "But you just did".

Iwai blinked.

"What, seriously you are Yakuza?" Ohya asked, her mouth falling open "I was just joking... but wow..."

"Oh for fuck's sake..." Iwai snapped, as Sojiro turned around and openly groaned at Iwai.

"I'm not too sure I feel comfortable having a member of Yakuza in my café" he said bluntly, before he turned to Akira "I don't mind you making connections around this city, but isn't this a step too far?"

"See what I mean Kaoru?" Iwai informed his son "This is why bein' the son of someone like me, won't help you out in life..."

"Dad, I've already told you I don't care about that" Kaoru responded "and neither should any of you" he continued "So what if my Dad was Yakuza? He's not a bad guy and what's the difference between him and the current group of people here, the phantom thieves, who are considered criminals anyway by the majority of the general public?"

There was an impressed silence at his passionate words, in which Iwai himself had to smile and chuckle to himself, in those moments he couldn't be more proud of his bespectacled son.

"Well... well..." Yoshida said at last "I highly doubt you can be a bad person if you've raised a fine young man like that, come, sit with us. There's a lot I'm sure we all wish to know about each other, starting with your name"

"Iwai" the gun store owner replied duly "and this here's my son Kaoru"

Kaoru waved at the friendly politician as Iwai looked around "So, this is the rest of the Phantom thieves and the support group, eh kid?" he quizzed of Akira "I was expecting... more shady looking folk, considering all the model guns and objects you brought from me"

"Disappointed?" Akira inquired, but before Iwai could answer he ploughed onwards "Anyway did you get what I asked for?"

"Yes, that's why we were late, it would look suspicious takin' all this on the train so we walked here" Iwai said, as he pointed at bag strapped firmly on his back and the one his son was holding "I dunno why you needed so much kid, but I brought what I could... can't believe I just went off your text though. But something about it told me this was serious, you're the not the one that usually requests things out of me, or too meet up..."

"Yeah... but this is serious and you'll come to see soon enough why or those guns, melee weapons and protectors are needed". Akira informed him, as Iwai simply shrugged and went to sit next to his son.

"This is really it, isn't it?"

Makoto's voice was small, almost frightened, as Akira turned to her, he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

"I promise you, we'll make this work, okay?" he muttered.

Makoto wanted to believe him, but she couldn't stop feeling uneasy.

* * *

Another chime.

Everybody looked up expecting to see Sae Niijima as she was the last person they were expecting, instead they were greeted with the site of an middle aged woman with a kindly face and dark brown eyes, who seemed at ease despite the full atmosphere of the café and the fact she was surrounded by strangers.

"Sorry, cafe's closed" Sojiro told her bluntly "We're having a erm... private, family celebration"

"Well then count me in!" she cheered "Because I'm part of this family too!"

"Err..." Sojiro turned to Akira for some reason as if he had the answer to deal with this strange woman, as everyone else fell quiet, afraid to give anything away about the Phantom Thieves to a possible intruder.

"Erm... sorry, this really is private" Akira said standing up to confront her "You..."

"Ah! You must be Akira, I've heard so much about you!" the woman mused.

"What... but how...!?"

His questions were solved within the next couple of seconds, as the woman beamed and her eyes went wide at the site of a certain someone.

"Oh, there you are Ryuji!"

All eyes found the blonde, who looked like he wanted to evaporate on the spot.

"M-mum" he eventually choked out "What are you doing here...?"

"I'm here for the Phantom Thieves meeting!" she said as if it were obvious.

Ryuji seemed to be in a complete state of disbelief as did everyone else, as mother gazed at son and he gazed right back, not blinking at all, he was sure he had misheard her.

"P-phantom thieves?" Ryuji eventually said, his mind gone blank.

"Yes son, Phantom Thieves" his mother said "I received a text from an unknown number telling me my son was in Leblanc café and that I needed to head over there immediately for a Phantom Thieves meeting".

"But... I'm not... we're not...!" Ryuji began.

"Oh son, quit the act, you're a terrible liar" she mused with a small smile "Ever since Kamoshida got that calling card, I just knew you were behind it. You were never one to sit down and simply take the abuse that horrible man threw at you and since then you've made me proud, son!" she said, her voice choking slightly "But I had no idea how to tell you... that I've always known. But the way you'd always talk about how great your friends were and how they looked out for you, I just knew you were in capable hands".

"Well... err... that's great mum. Really" Ryuji muttered, seemingly mortified by this revelation "But if you always knew... then weren't you... like worried out your mind or something?"

"Of course I worried!" she snapped, "Honestly, Ryuji do you have any idea how worried I was when that bounty was set upon your heads for 30 million yen? If I could figure out that you were a member than who else had figured it out? Then there was the news of your leader's supposed death and..." she sighed there.

"I had no idea when or how to tell you, I just couldn't do it" Ryuji's mother informed her son "But I wanted you to know, that you always have your mother's support and when that text came through, I just knew now was the time to come clean".

"I should be saying this, but how'd you think I could tell you I'm a fucking Phantom Thief!"

"Language!" she scolded.

"Sorry" he muttered "But mum, who knew, that you knew, that I was a Phantom Thief, who could have texted you and got your number and..."

"Sis" Makoto responded easily "She works in a public prosecutor's office it would have been easy for her to get your contact info, she must have texted you because she didn't want any loose ends, she probably assumed Ryuji had already told you and even if he hadn't it would have drew to you to Leblanc regardless".

"So I was needed here" Ryuji's mother said to her "That's a troubling thought, but anyway, It's high time I introduced myself, I'm Nagisa Sakamoto, Ryuji's mother! It's nice to finally meet you all, and ah... Takamaki! How you've grown since we last met, are you keeping Ryuji in line?"

"Of course Miss Sakamoto" Ann replied just as cheerfully "But I'm just curious... what has Ryuji been saying about all of us?"

"Oh he never stops!" Nagisa Sakamoto chimed.

"Mum!" Ryuji hissed, but it seemed to have little affect on her, as she took a seat and began to gossip away to Ann.

"Ohh you wouldn't believe it Ann, that Akira was so cool today... or... wow I met some cute rich girl whose super nice... I didn't know the student council president could be such a badass, yeah his a little crazy but that Yusuke is a total bro... or Ann's the same as ever but we've been getting along great lately..."

"Same as ever, huh?" Ann said with an evil smile in Ryuji's direction.

"I'm not crazy!" Yusuke snapped at Ryuji "Nor am I your biological brother, I will take friends however as a more compelling word to describe our relationship"

"So, I'm looking cool huh?" Akira mused.

"and I'm badass" Makoto added.

"Why do I get just super nice?" Haru moaned.

"At least you get something! Hey where's my compliment!?" Futaba demanded.

"and mine!" Morgana screeched.

"Hey, can it cat!" Ryuji snapped back at it.

"Why is he yelling at the cat?" Takemi felt complied to ask Sojiro.

"Oh yeah, apparently the cat can talk"

Ohya who was listening in on all this, turned towards Morgana and muttered, "So... you can actually talk".

"Of course I can talk you alcoholic disgrace of a reporter!" Morgana snapped at her.

However all Ohya heard was some faint meow-ing.

"Oh your such a cutie!" Ohya mused, smiling at it.

"I think I'm going to need a long drink after all of this" Takemi said simply "Phantom Thieves, talking cats, ex-Yakuza members, homeroom teachers in on the secret, God whatever's next?"

As if some God had answered her question Sae Niijima had finally arrived.

* * *

"So... everyone's here" she muttered gazing around at the full café "Let's see" she did a quick head count as the café fell silent around her.

"Bang on 20 people here, yes this should work" she muttered, before her eyes found Nagisa's "Miss Sakamoto, I'm sorry I texted you out of the blue like that, you must have been confused, but I needed you at Café Leblanc, to ensure the safety of both yourself and your son".

"It's quite alright dear, I already clocked on he was a Phantom Thief" Nagisa told her sweetly.

"Well it was a gamble either way" Sae said "But I'm glad it paid off, I was considering contacting the rest of your parents of those I knew were Phantom Thieves, but..." she sighed there.

"Makoto only has me, Yusuke you are an orphan, Haru you recently lost your father, Ann your parents are aboard and should be fine for a while, Akira, your parents are also a distance away, Ryuji you are the only one who has a guardian close-by... and as Sojiro is already here for you Futaba, I only had to send one message, but..."

She turned to the others in the café.

"Just so we're clear I'm Sae Niijima, older sister of Makoto here and if any of you have any loved one's you care about, or who you think have any idea who the phantom thieves are, or your link towards them, you need to call them here instantly".

There was a short silence.

"My parents are nearby and my mother had a change of heart" Hifumi eventually said "But... with my father being ill and everything with the Shogi tournament I don't think they've made any connection to me being associated to the Phantom Thieves, even if I phoned them now, my mother finishes work late and my father would be unable to travel in his state".

"I'm sorry to hear that" Sae said "But what about your parents?" she asked of the only other high schooler in the room, Mishima.

"They haven't clocked on and they've gone aboard for the week, so it should be fine" Mishima reassured her.

"Okay good" she smiled, "Anyone else?"

There was silence from the other adults in the room.

"No wife, or mother?" she asked of Iwai and Kaoru.

They both shook their heads.

"No children?" she inquired of Yoshida "No family?"

"No" he replied.

"Any boyfriend or any siblings from you?"

"No, and nobody would have clocked on anyhow" Kawakami said.

"So we're all clear, everyone who needs to be here, is present" Sae muttered "Thank God, now we're altogether I can tell you what you probably already know... but the reason I called you all here in such haste, was because..."

She sighed.

"...we've been discovered, they'll come for us all tonight".

* * *

 **A/N: So you've probably noticed that Shinya isn't involved in this group and I'll go into detail about that later, but for now I hope you liked this messy introduction chapter of getting the entire gang together to take on Shido's palace.**

 **I also suck at writing Japanese speech and all and I know there are probably a ton of errors when people should have called each other by first or last name, or used the correct -san or -senpai at the end of the name (again I'll try and improve on my research for that next chapter), but I hope it doesn't ruin the reading experience too much.**

 **But for those of you that liked the chapter, feel free to drop a review and tell me what was good and what was bad! I have a ton of stuff planned for this and yes, later on down the line we are going to see the confidants wield their own persona's after an awakening and form a super team of sorts, but also know Shido's palace is going to be much more dangerous this time around then it was in-game, so the stakes are going to be as high as ever.**

 **I also thought Ryuji's mother would make a fun addition to the team, while also being a sensible choice considering she wouldn't be caught and "questioned" by the police, anyway a lot more will come to light next chapter, about how the group was discovered and what they need to do next etc... but there's a lot to explain about how the metaverse works to 12 newcomers who'll be going there for the first time, so I hope the repeated exposition doesn't put you off but I'll try and keep as short as I can and focus on the character development and interactions.**

 **Anyway, let me know what you think, hope you enjoyed!**


	2. The Meeting

The news that they had been discovered was hardly surprising for Akira Kurusu and Makoto Niijima, who had already clocked on what had happened based on Sae's messages alone, yet for everybody else a collective horrified gasp spread around the café at this shocking news. Even Akira felt his heart thump faster in his chest at the news that they were going to be jailed, arrested and mostly likely killed within a couple of hours.

"B-but... how!?" Makoto exclaimed, her face as white as chalk.

"That's pretty obvious isn't it?" Sae groaned "It was Akechi no doubt, he knows who the rest of the Phantom Thieves are and where you like to reside".

"But why would Akechi come for us now!?" Haru exclaimed "He had all this time..."

"He didn't want to cause a scene and wanted the whole Phantom Thieves and Akira's suicide mania to die down, then he could eliminate the rest of you in not-so suspicious accidents".

"How'd you know that!?" Ryuji inquired.

"It's obvious isn't it?" Sae snapped, repeating herself "It's what I'd do if I were Akechi, if I were to kill all of you, days after Akira apparently committed suicide and then named and shamed the rest of you of Phantom Thieves who deserved to die... can't you can see how complicated it all becomes? They had solid proof Akira was the leader as they caught him within my palace, but the rest of you remain mere speculation".

"If we are, _mere speculation_ then why are they coming for us now!?" Makoto persisted "How did you find all this out?"

"They're getting too cocky, let's just say that" Sae informed them "I happened to overhear a conversation our new director was having with a certain someone on his phone, who I knew to be Shido..."

* * *

 _Sae groaned to herself, she was sick of being called up the new director's office to have her cases "looked at" non-stop, it was as clear as day they suspected her of being associated with the Phantom Thieves and kept a close eye on her. The feigned concern about her "mental" state and her "massive" workload was as annoying as it was creepy, she felt like she was being patronised, but she had managed to hold her own, she always had done._

 _She nearly slammed the door shut behind her, frustrated at the latest batch of thinly veiled questions towards her mental state and increasing workload, she wished her sister and the others would hurry up and change Shido's heart so she could pursue a case that was worthwhile already._

 _The corridor was empty in front of her, before she could stomp back to her office, she heard a muffled voice behind her "Ah yes sir, she doesn't suspect a thing..."_

 _Sae froze, why had she never thought of doing this beforehand? Maybe because this corridor was always full of people, but the director had decided to bother her while the majority of her co-workers were on lunch break, giving her an ample opportunity to listen in to what he had to say._

 _There was silence as Sae pressed her ear against the wood of the door, she could faintly hear the director pacing around the room._

 _"...tonight!?" he suddenly exclaimed, making Sae jolt on the spot, she regained her composure to listen to the rest "But sir, we agreed...!" a silence once again, "Right before the election? don't you want to wait until the election is over? We don't need this scandal now, you are guaranteed to win regardless of..."_

 _Another silence._

 _"No... no... no!" he sounded panicked "No of course I'll do it, we'll get a squad together... yes the Phantom Thieves leader did have associates, we have some suspects but we..."_

 _A silence._

 _"You'll sort it for us? But are you sure...?" another pause "Akechi told you? But what's the rush? Why not wait?"_

 _More silence, it was becoming clear to Sae, who the director was speaking too._

 _"The rest of the Phantom Thieves might attempt to steal your heart in an act of revenge against their leader? That's what you think? You think they'll target you now? So close to the election? No! No! No! Sir I'm not disagreeing with you, it's just a very sudden request..."_

 _Silence._

 _"Capture and then kill, those are your orders, correct?"_

 _Sae could almost hear the simple "Yes" from the phone._

 _"So, we have Ryuji Sakamoto, Ann Takamaki, Makoto Niijima, Yusuke Kitgawa, Haru Okumura, Futaba Sakura and a cat?" he listed off "Leblanc café? Erm... yeah I know where that is, Sojiro Sakura a suspect as well?" silence once again "Yes, him and Sae Niijima?"_

 _Sae was aware of herself sweating now, it was quite obvious with a bit of investigative work and recorded footage from around Tokyo, who the other phantom thieves really were and who Akira Kurusu was associating himself with, but they didn't have any solid proof..."_

 _"Akechi's word..." Sae thought to herself._

 _"You're sending Akechi ahead into your palace in case they are already there?" the director unknowingly informed Sae "Yes and if we can't find them?"_

 _The silence here was deafening._

 _"B-but we have no proof?"_

 _Now Sae could hear the angry voice on the other side of the line._

 _"PROOF!" It snapped, she was certain now, this was Shido speaking "Who the hell needs proof, every seed of doubt, that threatens my chances of victory, need to be eliminated!" he almost screamed "Who do you think got you this position of power?!"_

 _"Sir, I am truly grateful for..."_

 _"If you fail this task, you know what awaits you" Shido snarled, his threat as clear as day "Are you telling me your force is incapable of taking out a few high school children and a few outcasts, that nobody will miss!"_

 _"No, we should be able to do that"_

 _"Excellent, target Leblanc first, according to Akechi they have their meetings in there, send a squad at night when it closes and when they have their pathetic meetings and kill them all" he ordered harshly "Then if you can't find them, get to their addresses and kill anyone who happens to be there, friends, family, you name it, anyone with an inkling of who the Phantom Thieves really are, have to go"_

 _"If they've snuck off to a palace, or anywhere else, Akechi will be sure to finish them off" Shido said confidently "As for the other associates this leader had, we have enough evidence to see where he spent his time, I don't really care if they are innocent or not, kill them regardless and we can place the blame of those deaths on some make-believe online criminal gang, who I will defeat after the election improving my public image, understood?"_

 _"Yes sir" the director said._

 _"Good, now I'll send over a list of names and their addresses to you" he said, as Sae felt her world spinning out of control. Shido was now calling this act "a glorious purge to eliminate my last foes and ensure that after the election, a new, much more prosperous Japan will rise!"_

 _"This is a genocide!" Sae thought, horrified "A cold, cruel, calculated genocide, of around 10 or 20... or who knew how many people, all too keep Shido in power"._

 _At this point Sae turned and walked quietly down the corridor, she had absolutely no intention of staying to listen to anymore, out of the fear of being discovered, she knew what she needed too and now was the time to act._

* * *

"I knew it!" Sojiro snapped when Sae had finished telling them all her story, "Shido was never one who could simply let something go, he had to be so petty to eliminate all threats to him and now he's planning this... this purge!"

"I wish it were all false, but If I hadn't overheard that, I don't even want to think about what could have happened..." Sae shuddered to herself at this.

"But we know about this now sis" Makoto said, standing up to comfort her shaken sister "It was only a matter of time before Shido would act against us, but to think he'd do it before the election".

"It sounds like he doesn't care anymore" Ohya muttered, joining in with the conversation "He's so powerful that even if these deaths raise suspicion, no one will act out against him, he's beloved by everyone. Sadly enough, I think the public themselves would turn a blind eye to his crimes too".

"That's why we need to make him confess his crimes, with his own mouth!" Ann exclaimed.

"and judging by what you heard, the safest place for all of us would be in... this palace?" Yoshida inquired of Akira.

"They are areas of weaker cognition within the palace, places that are safe" Akira told him "We can find a room like that and keep you guys..."

"Oh hell no!" Mishima piped up, as all eyes turned in his direction "We came here to help! We're not going to sit around and twiddle our thumbs while you guys do all the work!"

"You don't have persona's!" Akira snapped at him "It would be dangerous for you guys to fight in there".

"Wouldn't it be dangerous for you too though, regardless of whatever the fuck you just mentioned" Iwai pointed out "Besides, why'd you have me and Kaoru bring all these guns anyway? You can't use them all"

"In the cognitive world, those guns are seen as real by shadows and other threats" Akira explained.

"So that's why you've been buyin' em!" Iwai concluded.

"and I suppose the same applies for my medicine" Takemi added.

Akira nodded at them, as both doctor and gun-store owner shared a grin of understanding.

"Once again Akira, your intuition never ceases to amaze me" Sae said proudly "You knew just from my texts that something serious was going to go down and that we needed to go to a palace, so you instantly got to work ensuring we had as many supplies as we could".

"Something like that" Akira mused, grinning at his own brilliance, Makoto simply had to roll her eyes at this, but allowed him his moment in the spotlight, he wasn't their leader for nothing and his quick thinking had probably just spared them a world of grief.

"But didn't that director mention that Goro Akechi was going to be waiting for us, in Shido's palace?" Chihaya said quietly "Isn't he meant to be dangerous?"

"We'll deal with Akechi when he decides to show himself, no point worrying too much about him now" Akira said "Besides, if you are coming with us, there's a lot you're going to need to learn and a lot that won't make sense at all".

"We gathered that" Tae said "Now considering our limited time, I think the thing we all want to know is, how this whole thing works".

"Basically" Akira began to explain "An app on our phones allows us to travel into the metaverse, you need the name of the person with a palace, the location of the palace and what they see the location as. An example would be Kamoshida, Shujin school and Castle, Kamoshida saw Shujin as his own castle with himself as the ruler".

"Oh-kay" Ohya muttered "But what about the whole, stealing your heart thing?"

"That's more complicated" Akira muttered "We make our way through the palace, fighting shadows on the way until we reach the treasure in the depths of the palace, at first the treasure will take a form we can't steal, so that's why we have to send the calling card".

"So those weren't just for show, you generally needed to do that!?" Ohya asked.

Akira nodded.

"Yeah, it makes the palace's ruler aware that the source of their distorted desires is about to stolen, henceforth the treasure takes a physical form we can steal, we usually have to subdue the palace, ruler's, shadow after we steal the treasure and they have a change of heart".

"Sounds... complicated" Takemi said "But what exactly is the treasure?"

"The source of a person's distorted desires" Akira said, echoing Morgana's words "For Kamoshida it was an Olympic medal, for Madarame it was the original Sayuri painting".

"You mean... this?" Kawakami piped up, pointing at the original painting in which Yusuke's mother held her infant son in her arms.

"Yes that was the original, it was a self portrait of myself and my mother" Yusuke explained "Which Madarame stole and made his own".

"So this is the mystery behind the Sayuri's expression, the love for her son?" Yoshida said "It's horrifying to think somebody would steal something so personal and turn it into their own source of wealth".

"That's what I said!" Ann exclaimed "and yeah we've dealt with some pretty shitty people, but not everyone who has a palace is inherently evil, it's just when their desires become extremely distorted".

"Like mine" Futaba said quietly, drawing all attention to herself "I blamed myself so much for my mother's death, that my desires became all distorted, I didn't want to live anymore and that formed a palace of self-hatred and wrath, until the phantom thieves came to my aid!" she mused finishing her tale on a happier note.

"Wakaba, Futaba's mother" Sojiro began to explain to everyone else "Knew about this cognitive world too, she had research on it and everything which later disappeared after her death, it's more than likely that Shido stole this as well and that's how he knows about the cognitive world. I suppose that Akechi's been helping him too and I used to think of him as a pleasant young man, I served him my finest coffee numerous times too..."

"He had us all tricked Sojiro, we're gonna make him pay, just as much as Shido!" Futaba said "For my mom and for everyone else they've hurt through the years"

"I suppose your mother's death was suspicious too, just like how Kayo suddenly vanished after investigating Shido" Ohya said to Futaba, who nodded.

"Yeah, it was a suicide apparently, but mum wasn't the same in the days leading up too it" Futaba explained "But... I thought it was at first, or I convinced myself it was, because my mum left me a suicide note, blaming me for her own depression and her death".

"What!? That's awful!" Ohya exclaimed "Your mother left you that!?"

"I think it's even worse than that" Takemi added "I get the feeling your mother wouldn't have done such a thing, or left you such a note, considering you speak highly of her now".

"That's right" Futaba said with convinction "I fully believe the men in black suits who read out her note, were responsible for her death and used the note to frame me for it".

"That's... that's beyond unforgivable!" Kawakami squeaked in rage "Just who the hell are we actually dealing with here!?"

"An organised group, led by Shido" Makoto said, giving her teacher the answer "They have no qualms about killing or harming children or anyone else in order to achieve their goals"

"I don't know if I can believe in this all cognitive crap" Iwai snapped "But I can believe that shitty people like that certainly do exist, I've seen too many of them in my time".

"As I'm sure we all have" Yoshida said "You all mentioned that Akira here helped change the hearts of people who were giving you trouble, did that mean you had to infiltrate their palaces as well?"

"Not exactly" Akira explained "We changed their hearts, but there desires hadn't become distorted enough to form a palace just yet, instead they were corrupted shadows in mementos. Before you ask, Mementos is like the general public's palace, which takes the form of the subway here in Tokyo".

"That makes no sense at all" Takemi said.

Akira smiled.

"I did warn you, it wouldn't" he replied.

"Hey, didn't you have one of these palaces?" Iwai suddenly asked of Sae, whose eyes found the ground.

"Yes, I'm ashamed to say I did" Sae admitted "I became so obsessed with winning, with gaining a promotion, I saw the juridical system as nothing more than a fixed game that I had to keep on winning" she sighed there before she continued "But as you all know the phantom thieves here helped to change my heart".

"But techinally speakin' could we have palaces?" Iwai asked, seemingly concerened.

"It's a possibility, but if we are truly rooting for the phantom thieves here, it's highly unlikely" Sae told him "But back to the point, I know the Juridical system in and out and the successful conviction rate stands at 99.9 per cent, even if someone is innocent they are likely to be found guilty and sent to prison regardless of whatever they say or do. Now, just imagine that system under Shido's rule, anyone who opposes him will wind up jailed or dead".

"So let me try and get my head around this all" Kawakami said "Research about a cognitive world is stolen and a madman, wannabe, dictator and his ally of sorts Goro Akechi use this research to enter this cognitive world and through it, Shido's foes all begin to die and get discredited, while he rises in power and then the Phantom Thieves gain this app Akira mentioned and they start changing the hearts of criminals. Seeing a threat, Akechi, Shido and everyone else caught up in this conspiracy, frame the phantom thieves for crimes they didn't commit, by being against the phantom thieves Shido was able to gain even more popularity ensuring his victory and then Akechi set to work to eliminate the phantom thieves once their usefulness was no longer needed..."

"and we faked his death, making Shido and Akechi believe they won and giving us an ample opportunity to infiltrate Shido's palace and change his heart" Makoto finished.

"But now Shido wants you all dead regardless, along with all of us for simply having ties to Akira here" Iwai added "So we're days away from japan becoming a dictatorship, why the hell haven't you took his heart yet? What's takin' so long!?"

"Hey! It's not our fault!" Ryuji bellowed at him "We've been tryin' to change his heart, but we can't find the keyword and we must have mentioned everything...!"

"What keyword?" Chihaya asked gently.

"What Shido sees his palace as" Akira muttered "We got his name, we know his palace is the national diet building, but we don't know what he sees the diet building as" he pulled out his phone to show them how it worked "Listen here... Masayoshi Shido..."

"Candidate found" the phone replied.

"National diet building"

"Candidate found"

"Now... erm... luxurious hotel"

Conditions have not been met.

"Let me try!" Chihaya exclaimed, getting excited now "Hmm... a military base!?"

Conditions have not been met.

"A castle!" Mishima exclaimed blindly.

Conditions have not been met.

"Come on man, Kamoshida's was a castle and we've already tried that, we've tried almost everything we can think of" Ryuji moaned.

"Well it's got to be something, honey. We can't give up here" his mother said, encouraging him slightly.

"We have to know this by tonight and the sun's about to set" Sae said, looking outside "There's no telling when this squad will turn up, we need to leave in five minutes and head to the diet building".

"Can't we enter his palace from here? We're gonna look strange in front of the diet building" Kaoru pointed out.

"No, it has to be by the diet building, there's no telling what Shido's palace could be" Akira said.

"Hang on what about all the curry I've done here, it's just about ready now!" Sojiro protested.

"Bring it with us, food will serve us well in metaverse and keep our energy up" Akira told him, as Sojiro groaned and started to put all the curry in the one place he could fit it all, the hotpot bowl, he also began to pile in other foods as well, if this was going to be useful in the metaverse, then he was more than happy to help.

"You're taking all that stuff with you in that thing?" Futaba asked.

"Where else do you want me to put it?" he snapped back.

"Okay sorry, just pointing out, it's gonna look odd on the train, that's all"

"With this group, half of Tokyo's gonna be lookin' at us oddly, let's just get to the diet building and get to this damn palace" Futaba turned away, before Sojiro stopped her and muttered "Futaba?"

"Yeah?"

"We'll avenge your mother too, you hear?"

Futaba smile was wider than it had ever been before.

"Hell yeah!" she exclaimed "and Sojiro this is gonna be so awesome! You, in a palace! You're totally gonna summon your persona and fight alongside side us and...!"

"Slow down, let's just be careful okay?" Sojiro lectured of her.

She groaned.

"Alright then, but I can't wait for you to get there... and you'll finally be able to hear Morgana speak..."

* * *

While everyone else packed to get ready, Iwai strolled up to Akira and muttered "So what's the plan here, if we get into this palace, then what do we do? We haven't got these persona things you keep blabbering on about, are we just expected to sit in a safe place and wait for you to change Shido's heart?".

"Iwai, you need to understand..."

"No kid, you need to understand" he snarled "You helped us all and we're returning the favour, we won't take no for an answer".

"But it will be..."

"You mentioned those guns will work, regardless of Persona or not, we'll be taking those guns and using them against any threats we encounter in the palace" Takemi stated clearly and confidently "and my medicine will be even more effective over there, so there's no way in hell I'm sitting back. I'm the group medic here and no one is dying or getting hurt on my watch".

"Takemi, your medicine is important but you don't..."

"I haven't let you cut class for this!" Kawakami exclaimed "I probably can't use a gun, or aim very well, but if it comes too it, I'm your teacher and I promised I'd protect you no matter what, I intend to stick to my promise"

Akira couldn't say anymore, because the others really weren't taking no for an answer.

"Hearing of this plot makes me disgusted and stains the name of good politics!" Yoshida exclaimed "For you and for this country, I will fight to save it all!"

"Me too!" Chihaya shouted "I'm not a monster anymore, you helped me realise it and we can change the fate of this country, that's what I believe!"

"Can you imagine how insane this scoop will be! This is true Journalism, something I've aspired to achieve my entire life!" Ohya shouted, a burning passion present in her eyes "So don't you dare tell me to back off when I'm so close to uncovering probably the biggest, undercover conspiracy, ever!"

"You'll need a mother's assistance for this" Nagisa added "I won't let my son or his friends fight alone anymore. I might not look like much, but I have to shoot to save you all and stop that evil man, then I will!"

"Mum" Ryuji muttered, astonished at the strength of her words.

"You know I've supported you from the start, no way I'm leaving now!" Mishima added.

"and I'll fight too!" Kaoru added passionately "I believe the Phantom Thieves are righteous and we'll do this together!"

"Not you Kaoru, you're too young and..." Iwai began.

"You can't stop me from trying to help Dad, I won't sit down, knowing I could have helped but did nothing about it!" Kaoru said "Besides I'm only two years younger than most of the Phantom Thieves, I'm old enough to do this, I want to do this"

"Kaoru..." Iwai began, but he knew it was helpless, his son was fighting with them, whether he liked it or not.

"and I'm helping too" Hifumi said, she had been silent this entire time, but now the shy, shogi, prodigy was making her voice heard, "Akira, after everything I've just heard it sounds like these palaces are dangerous places and the battles could go poorly without proper guidance. I know now you've been coming to me for Shogi skills you can use in these battles, allow me to oversee these and ensure you make all the right moves for an absolute victory"

Akira was blown away by this show of support, the emotion of it was starting to get to him, to think around 8 months ago, he had nobody and was labelled as a criminal and now he had all of these people more than willing to fight tooth and nail alongside him.

"This is great and all, but they don't have Persona's, they will slow us down!" Morgana exclaimed from the side of him "and even if they do activate their persona's they'll become exhausted and be in no fit shape to fight..."

"To hell with that, we have the numbers here Morgana and they're all willing to help!" Ryuji snapped at the feline.

"Why are you yelling at the cat!?" Iwai asked of Ryuji.

"Oh yeah, apparently the cat can talk" Takemi informed him "More mumbo-jumbo business about the metaverse I guess".

"What the... WHAT!?" Iwai bellowed.

"More on this later, the last train is leaving 10 minutes, we need to move" Sae informed them, cutting Iwai off, however before they could move, she suddenly reached an arm out, blocking the door.

"Listen" she said, turning back to them all "I just want to make sure that everyone here is aware of the danger of this palace, there's a chance we won't make it out at all... and most of you have been dragged here against your own will because of Shido's plot... but I'd understand completely if you don't want to fight. I'm sure there are places you can hide, until this all blows over".

She sighed there.

"Anyone that wants to leave now, is free to do so"

There was a silence from everybody in the café.

"I thought as much" she said smiling at them all "So... I can't believe I'm going to say this... but let's go steal that bastard's heart!"

There was a resounding cheer at this, as the group of them funnelled out the café (as Sojiro locked it from behind them), the cold December air slapped at their faces, as the odd group slowly made their way towards the train station. Akira couldn't quite believe it, this was truly it, they were all gathered and all heading towards Shido's palace to end this once and for all... the bastard that had essentially ruined his life... payback was going to be sweet for him.

"This is really it" Makoto muttered, somehow finding her way to Akira's side "Listen, I know what that man did too you Akira, and I know we have extended numbers now, but let's not get cocky about this. Shido is likely to have a very dangerous palace and we can't let our guards down".

"Understood captain" Akira said with a cool smile "But honestly I will be careful..."

He stopped there.

He had called Makoto the "captain" twice now, mainly based on the fact she could be quite a nag and liked telling the group what to do, but Akira never minded it, it wasn't like she was some dictator in the making, telling the entire country what to do, as it's captain...

 _"Idiots like you need to shut up and watch where I **steer** this country...!" _

The memory hit him like a brick, the answer had been so obvious for so long, how hadn't he seen it!?

"That's it!" he suddenly exclaimed to a surprised looking Makoto "I've got it, I know what Shido's palace is, I know the keyword Makoto, It's obvious, I should have known all along...!"

"You suddenly remembered something?" Makoto inquired before she shook her head "Well let's wait until we're in front of the diet building, I hope you are right about this Akira".

He smiled at her.

"Trust me, I know this is it".

Makoto found herself smiling back at him.

"Okay then" she replied.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay so this chapter was an exposition dump so I apologise for that but hopefully you found some enjoyment from it and next chapter we'll get to the palace itself and the gang shall hear Morgana speak, now because I love discussing things with my reviewers, it's time to reply to the reviews I have so far! I wasn't expecting so many responses or follows and fave's from one chapter alone, so I'm greatful for that!**

 **Ulrich- Thanks for your feedback and yeah it won't be easy with so many going to the metaverse, I won't say much more but this isn't going to be a breeze for any of them, let's just say things will get brutal... quite fast...**

 **fatty635- Firstly, I'm sorry about this chapter and the exposition, but thanks for your review and I hope this chapter didn't bore you, next chapter will certainly get things moving again.**

 **Shadow of the queen- Thanks for your review! and you've clocked the nail on the head about the group splitting up in order to clear the palace faster and won't say much more on that but it will have it's benefits but also it's consequences as well. Anyway I'm glad you find the premise interesting and I hope what follows keeps you invested!**

 **todpolle- I'm surprised you liked Ohya, but I'm glad anyhow! Ohya was a wasted opportunity in the game as all we did with her was listen to her problems as she drank in crossroads, so I'm going to make her more prominent in this fic, as she has a link to Shido through what happened to her friend so be ready to see more of her and for Sae... will she get a Persona? You'll have to wait and see!**

 **Roasted Butter- Thanks for feedback and I have taken it into account, this chapter keeps the pace a little slow but it will pick up next chapter and I really liked your point about this story being "He gets a persona, she gets a persona, everyone gets a persona!" because that's something I worried about while writing it, the few I have written so far seem to... repetitive, so I'm rewriting them to try and make them seem unique in their awakenings, hopefully it pays off.**

 **As for your point on the main cast, I'd like to think of these first couple of chapters are establishing the cast together before they get to the palace and when people are in their own groups, we'll see more focus on smaller groups and characters themselves further developing as they traverse through the palace. and I know what you mean by RWBY vol 5. It was a disappointment for me, I thought they could have made it work if the characters didn't waste entire episodes giving pointless exposition and focused more on character development and interactions. If you look at the dinner scene in Vol 5 and compare to the witty and fast dialogue of the early seasons, it just feels off. The laughter feels forced and I know they've been through a load of crap but this kind of dialogue is present throughout the series...**

 **"Salem only uses people until they are no longer useful to her..." or something like that Raven said, just ugh... anyway sorry for going off on one, but back to the point of the fic. Switching between small groups in the later chapters I feel will take away from their development and make the chapters feel bloated with too much, so I'm planning to have later chapter focus on a group or a single character. It might slow the pace slightly but I think it will pay off, anyway let me know what you think! I always like discussing and replying to reviews!**

 **So I hoped you enjoyed! feel free to leave reviews, send me PM's or feel free to ask any question I like to reply and discuss things among the reviewers, until next chapter!**


	3. A Warm Welcome

"What do you mean, they're weren't in the damn cafe!?"

"They said the Leblanc was locked and empty and they checked the other locations and didn't find anyone in them"

"They know. They found out" Shido snapped to the new director "Tell me Mr. Director, you had that meeting with Sae Niijima just as I instructed, before I contacted you, just to make sure she didn't suspect anything?"

"Well, yes…"

"Did you check that the coast was clear before you started speaking to me?"

There was a short pause, followed by a shaky "Yes"

"Was it clear?!" Shido roared at him "Did you check to see that no-one was listening in! That the corridor outside was clear!"

"It was during everyone lunch's hour… I thought…"

"THAN EVERYONE ELSE WOULD HAVE BEEN GONE! SHE MUST HAVE OVERHEARD YOU! YOU INCOMPETENT IDIOT! I DO ALL THIS FOR YOU AND THIS IS HOW I'M REPAID!?"

"Sir, I didn't…"

"You are done, you are out. You won't live to see the next 10 minutes, I'll send Akechi to terminate you with instant effect and have you replaced before long"

"SIR PLEASE…!"

Shido hung up the phone, not wanting to listen that pathetic baboon for a second longer, his new Government couldn't have people like that onboard. He needed complete and utter loyalty and devotion from all his followers, any mistakes would result in dire consequences.

"Two SIU directors in the space of days, what a complete fiasco!" he snapped, before he slammed his balled up fists on the desk in front of him "Goddamnit!" he roared, before he turned to one of his poker-faced assistants, currently residing in the room with him.

"Get me Akechi!" he snapped.

This order was instantly obeyed.

Akechi would have to hold off on entering Shido's own palace, firstly they needed to trigger a mental shutdown in that useless director and then Akechi could wipe out those damn phantom thieves once and for all. Maybe this had turned out even better than he could have foreseen, there was no doubt about it the thieves and their associates were planning to break into his palace and steal his treasure, if they could be killed in there, that would be less evidence and bodies to clear up... to think they could actually take what was rightfully his.

He couldn't help but laugh at that prospect.

He hadn't seen his own palace but he could be rest assured that it would be far more secure than the past palaces had been and even if they reached his so-called treasure, then he'd be notified about via the calling card and even (by some means) the phantom thieves managed to steal his heart, he had one last trick up his sleeve in order to terminate them for good. He leant back and his chair and let his rage subside somewhat... he was chosen by God to do this, to lead Japan into a new era, why did so many people insist on making that difficult for him?

He was the one who Akechi had trusted with the secrets of Metaverse.

The app on Akechi's phone had to be supernatural in origin, it was God's work alone.

Wakaba's research was his for the taking, he knew how this worked, he was above other humans.

"They'll see, the ignorant masses" Shido thought to himself "When I become prime minister, they'll all see..."

The poker faced assistant had returned, without Akechi.

"It would seem Akechi has already gone ahead into your own palace" he said calmly (this assistant was quite used to Shido's fits of rage).

"I told him to wait until I gave the order! The useless brat!" Shido spat "If he can't obey orders... no... I'll save that until after the election. Akechi won't betray me, because I'm assured to get him first" he smiled to himself there, that punk better have come back to him with the news and confirmation on all his enemies deaths otherwise no meta-verse business would save him.

Now that he thought about it, Akechi hadn't been too happy when Shido gave his orders to wipe out the rest of the Phantom Thieves.

* * *

 _"I want their names, Akechi!" Shido had exclaimed angrily to the detective, "Our intelligence has already gathered the names of the 7 other phantom thieves the damn cat included, I need you to confirm it with me!"_

 _"Are you sure you're not being too reckless?" Akechi had replied "The election is in a few days, surely it can wait?"_

 _"and what should happen if they attempt to make me confess my so-called crimes in front of the nation, before I am elected!?" Shido snarled at him "I can't sleep comfortably knowing that they are out there, you know who they are, what they like, where they hang out, we should have done this right after their leader was eliminated, it's high time we slaughtered the rest, along with anybody who had ties to them"._

 _Akechi sighed, he looked like was ready to reply to the bald man in front of him and Shido was ready to scream at him until he was blue._

 _But then something dark passed through Akechi's eyes._

 _and he gave a full toothed smile towards the upcoming prime minster._

 _"Very well, if you insist" Akechi muttered "Here are the names of the rest of them..."_

 _He gave them, in which Shido leant back in his chair, smirking almost as much as Akechi, yet despite the fact they were both smiling at each other, the atmosphere in the room felt cold, uncomfortable and stuffy, it was like both men couldn't bare to look at each other for longer than they had too._

 _"When I give the order, go into my palace, in case any of those thieves escape or are in there already and kill them all"_

 _Akechi bowed._

 _"As you wish sir"_

 _He turned away, Shido was confident (despite the unease) that his order would go obeyed by Akechi, like it had done thousands of times beforehand._

 _Yet Akechi had a different motive in mind._

 _"Don't worry father, I'll kill them and then you, after you know who I really am!" he raved, an insane smile that Shido couldn't see, was spreading across his face._

* * *

"I'm so glad we could all get together for this big-family-meeting!" Ann had exclaimed for the train to hear "It's been so long since we've all been together, isn't that right Sakura-San?"

"Err... yeah I guess..."

"and my God Uncle It's been so long since I've last seen you!" Ann shouted over to Iwai "How's the wife!? Is she still sick?"

"Yeah" Iwai replied.

"Jeez, this is awful" Ryuji moaned "We're not convincing anybody here"

"Hey!" Ann snapped back at him "At least I'm doing something, now shut up and play the role of my brother!"

"We look nothing alike!" Ryuji protested.

"We're both blondes, it will do!" Ann snapped back at him.

"Why don't we just get a sign, saying we're Phantom Thieves and we're going to steal Masayoshia's Shido's heart?" Sae had quietly told her sister, who barely supressed a giggle, before she looked at the several suspicious faces gazing in their direction.

"It would probably attract less attention then we are now" she admitted.

The site of a large group of 20 mismatched people, barging onto an evening train with dozens of suspicious looking bags, bulging with all sorts of unknown horrors, alongside a man dressed like a pimp holding a giant, steaming hotpot filled with curry and other foods, was going to attract attention. But added to the fact Ann was now trying to pass it off as some sort of family gathering when they couldn't have looked anymore different, with the louder members of the group (and Ann's bad acting) giving them away in an instant. Anyone in their right mind knew that this was no family gathering.

"What's with all that food?"

"That man looks scary, wonder what's in the bag?"

"You don't think they're gonna blow us up, do you?"

"Why don't the train attendants stop these sort of people!?"

A few had given them odd looks, but Ann had used her charm (or cleavage more like) to draw their eyes and attention and before they could get too suspicious of the group, they had quickly shuffled onto the sparsely populated train.

"They're going to follow us, you know?" Takemi told Akira.

"Yes, but we'll be gone by then" Akira reassured her.

"Are you one-hundred per cent sure you have this... keyword, because if we're looking suspicious here, we'll have a minute at tops in front of the diet building before security come and arrest us and you are supposed to be dead..."

"We'll get it first time, just trust me on this" He said once again, keeping his eyes on the blood red sky outside of the train windows, he could see the faint outline of the diet building as it drew closer and closer, he felt himself gulp, they were speeding to their destination and there was no turning back at this point.

He looked around at his allies.

He was surprised to see Sojiro looking directly back at him, the man didn't look to nervous, but he seemed to be keeping an eye on himself and Futaba. Maybe he was nervous for the both of them, he must have seen those two as his new family in a way, or the family he'd never had and the thought touched Akira in a way. Maybe after all this was over, he'd request to stay permanently with Sojiro and Futaba. It would be like having a real father figure in his life and not one that was at work 24/7 and couldn't care less about him, and he'd get a quirky little sister on top of that.

"Akira Sakura..." it had a nice ring to it, he had to admit.

Futaba herself was scrolling through her laptop that she brought along everywhere, her face was scrunched up in concentration and Akira could only hope that it would come in handy later on.

Ryuji and Ann were still arguing about their hair colour of all things, while Nagisa simply watched on with a smile on her face, Chihaya was flicking through her tarot cards, a concerned look spreading across her face as she silently read the group's fortunes (or more likely, the misfortunes) Yoshida was pokerfaced, as he sat stiffly in his chair, Kawakami and Hifumi shared similar expressions. Ohya tapped her foot impatiently on the floor to the train, Takemi simply looked bored, Iwai kept Kaoru within his sights, Mishima was checking his phone, restless energy dancing in his eyes, no doubt he was on the Phansite. Makoto and Sae looked confident enough, Haru and Yusuke had their sights firmly on the world outside, seemingly in deep thought.

This was it, this was his team.

"So... this is really it, isn't it?" Morgana asked from the bag he was hidden within, as Akira looked down at his feline companion, "Man, this is gonna be weird when they all hear me speak, but it's going to be difficult to keep everyone safe, I'd feel more comfortable if they could just wait in the safe room..."

"Me too" Akira admitted "But there's no way we're going to convince them to do that"

Morgana sighed, Akira did have a point there.

* * *

Before he knew what had happened the doors of the train had slid open, they had arrived at their destination, pulling himself out of his own nervous state, he knew (as leader) everyone was going to be looking at him for strength, so without another word he stepped off the train and left the station, the rest of the group hot on his heels.

He could hear the suspicious whispers of the many evening communters gathered around them, the last rays of sunlight had disspeared over the horizion, it was rapidly getting dark.

One foot in front of the other, one foot in front of the other...

No one was speaking now, maybe the nervousness of it all was getting to them all. Akira certainly felt that way, all these people's lives were essentially within his hands, it wasn't just his small group now. He was leading all the adults and confidants in crime against the most dangerous enemy they had come across so far, how could he not be nervous?

But he couldn't hesitate now, because they had just walked into the shadow of the diet building, Takemi was right, the security by the industrial fence, were already making a beeline towards the large group. Having these suspicious characters so close to a Government building at night was the boldest, yet most shady thing one could do and of course security were going to ask them to leave, or apprehend them if they refused.

"It has to be now!" Takemi nagged.

"Okay, everyone gather up close" Akira instructed trying to keep his own voice calm, as the group huddled in.

"HEY! YOU CAN'T BE HERE!"

Akira tapped on the app, his hands shaking, he prayed to whatever Gods were listening that his hunch was right, or they really were screwed...

"HEY! I'M GONNA HAVE TO ASK YOU TO LEAVE...!"

There was around 5 of them now and more closing in.

"Akira, now!" Sojiro snapped.

"Masayoshia Shido"

Candidate found.

"National Diet building"

Candidate found.

Akira drew a deep breath.

 _"Ship"_

An unbearable silence engulfed them all.

"Match found. Beginning navigation"

* * *

At first Akira didn't realise what had changed.

While the rookies all gasped as reality distorted in front of them, he merely closed his eyes, as many excited and frightened exclamations flew over his head.

"What's going on!?"

"Holy shit, this is it! This is it! We're going to the metaverse!"

"I feel strange!"

"Has it stopped yet!?"

"Woah, woah, woah and WOAH!"

"Hmm... honestly I was expecting something more dramatic"

"It's stopped, we're here!"

"Diet building looks the same"

"But the fence has gone!"

Akira opened his eyes to see they were correct, the diet building looked the exact same as when they left it, (except it was no longer protected by the security fence surrounding it) however Kaoru's exclamation of "WOAH! LOOK AT THE SKY DAD!" which told them all they were indeed within the metaverse.

The sky (like it had been in certain other palaces) was a blood red, something that shocked the rookies of the team, Ohya tried lifting a camera to take a photograph of it, but snarled "Dammit! The camera ain't workin'!"

"Well of course it won't work, you're in the congintive world after all" came a condescending tone.

All heads turned towards Morgana, having heard his voice as clear as day.

"AH!" Ohya squeaked, dropping her camera completely (thankfully it didn't shatter) "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT!?"

"HEY! I'm a person!" Morgana bellowed back.

"What is that thing!? Why's it speaking!?" Kawakami squeaked.

"It's me! The cat! Mor-gan-a!" Morgana snapped at her.

"Morg-morgana, y-you can actually talk!?" Sojiro gawped.

"Yes! That's been established beforehand, hasn't it boss!?" Morgana inquired of him.

"Woah, Dad! I can touch it!?" Kaoru inquired.

"I'm a person! Not an it!" Morgana roared at him.

"You could have fooled me!" Iwai responded, on behalf of his son "You don't look like a cat at all, what the hell happened to you!? Why's your head three times the size of your body and what's with the weird get-up?"

"You're one to talk!" Morgana blasted back (even though there wasn't anything particularly weird about what Iwai was wearing) "Besides, I'm not the only one who has changed clothes, look at the others!"

They all did so, Akira was so used to this by now, he hadn't even noticed his clothes had changed into the long black overcoat he always had plastered on his body during his adventures through numerous palaces. The others had all changed too, which left many of the rookies gawping who were still within their normal clothes.

"Hang on, you didn't explain this!" Kawakami said "Why have your clothes changed? What does it mean? Where'd your other clothes go?".

"Huh? Masks?" Takemi noted "I guess you aren't called Phantom Thieves without a get-up of some sorts".

"Hey where's my latex suit?" Ohya joked to Ann, "Just to be clear though, I love the colour".

"Oh erm... thanks" Ann said, blushing slightly.

"But seriously, what's with the get-up here!?" Iwai inquired once again.

"It happens when your persona's been activated and when the palace ruler sees you as a threat" Morgana explained.

"Say that again, in English" Iwai said bluntly.

"I just did! Oh God, I hope you all don't turn out to be as dense as Ryuji, he still doesn't get it"

"Hey, watch it cat!" Ryuji snapped.

"Anyway" Morgana continued as if he hadn't heard Ryuji at all "It's best we sit down and try to explain this to you all before we get any further, because I don't want to be bogged down with questions every five seconds".

Everyone gathered around except for Yoshida who was staring outwards at... what looked like skyscrapers from a distance, Akira called him over, but the politican didn't seem to move.

"Hey old man! What you looking at?" Ohya inquired, running over to him, before she paused in her tracks "Holy shit!" she exclaimed, "Guys, come on over and have a look at this!"

The group collectively moved as one towards (what they now realised) was the edge of the front deck of giant cruise liner, the railings at the side should have given them an indicator of what they were on, but they had been distracted by other sights. As the group reached the railings to see what Yoshida and Ohya were gawping at, they themselves (particularly the rookies) soon found themselves lost for words at the sight.

A blood red ocean, stretched on for as far as the eye could see, poking up above the waves, were the heads of several wrecked or tilted skyscrapers, the group watched in a morbid fascination as the ship completely flattened a nearby building, it sank into the sea with an almighty crash that sent large chunks of glass and debris barrelling into the water below, yet the ship didn't jolt, nor did it show any signs that it had just collided with something. The ship sailed on as smooth as could be, the buildings continued to lie wrecked or in ruin below it.

"This is an arc" Yoshida muttered, his voice somewhat loud and contained a hidden fury, which could be heard over the billowing winds of the palace "Shido will protect himself and his wealthy friends from going to ruin, but the rest of Japan will sink under his rule and he doesn't care, this is what most top politicians end up doing, protecting themselves while failing to protect and serve the country they were meant to".

"So this is how Shido sees Japan" Sae muttered "Well, even more reason to change his heart as soon as we can".

"Yeah but for now, let's explain some stuff to you guys, so we can nagivate the palace later" Morgana nagged.

Slowly but surely the group gathered around to listen to Morgana, trying to digest the fact that the national diet building sat comfortably on top of the largest cruise ship most of them had even seen in their lives. If the sight of the palace itself was hard for them digest than what Morgana and the other Phantom Thieves were about to tell them, would take even more patience and understanding than they thought possible.

* * *

It wasn't easy.

Explaining how it all worked, must have taken over 20 minutes. The cognitive world, Persona's, Akira's unique abilities, the app, where the app originally came from, Morgana's forgotten past, why he was a cat in the first place, the experience they had gained in previous palaces, shadows themselves, how medicines, guns and foods actually worked in this world, cognitive people and places... there was so much of it to explain and the constant questions from the newcomers didn't help matters. But when Akira felt his throat go dry after speaking so much... he felt everyone was pretty much up to speed.

"This is all so much to take in, Mako..." Sae began.

"Remember what we said about codenames Sis" Makoto reminded her "In here, I'm Queen".

"You just had to pick Queen didn't you?" Sae said with a small smile "Okay then, _your majesty_ , if you all get code-names, how about the rest of us?"

"I don't know" Morgana said speaking up for them "It would be strange to give you codenames before you know your persona, or your outfits, it wouldn't feel right, let's just avoid calling each other by our names at all until we reach a safe room and refer to us by our codenames should you be in need of assistance".

"Okay, so we have Joker, Skull, Panther, Fox, Mona, Oracle, Noir and Queen" Sae listed off "Okay then, now we're up to date on matters, I think we need to figure out how we're going to infiltrate this place".

"Ain't that simple?" Iwai inquired, who had already handed out guns to the group (one person got one gun each, of their own choosing) "We go in and we shoot the bastard shadows, then we get to the treasure"

"You sound like Ryuji, that's an awful idea, remember what I said about being sneaky?" Morgana whined "What's the point in us being thieves if we go in all guns blazing?"

"You said we had to make the calling card, to get the palace ruler's attention though" Kawakami pointed out.

"Yes, _after_ we've found a secure route to the treasure" Morgana said "Until then we need to stay out of sight as much as we can, and avoid fights to conserve our energy, Iwai those guns you handed out are for a last resort in self-defence, don't use them unless you absoutley have too. Do not waste ammunition here, it could spell the difference between life and death".

"Alright, alright, I got it" Iwai moaned "I wasn't Yakuza for nothin', if we've gotta sneak around that's fine by me, but ain't it gonna be difficult with such a large group?"

"I was thinking that" Nagisa said sadly "I don't want Ryuji and the others putting themselves in unnecessary danger because of us"

"Mum..." Ryuji groaned.

"That will be problematic, all 20 of us can't sneak through that palace as a single group and not get detected" Sae muttered "I suggest we send in Mona here first to scout out the place, see if there are any shadows, give us the direct route to the nearest safe room and give us a description of the layout".

There was some murmuring at Sae's suggestion.

"Wouldn't it be dangerous for a small thing like you to go in alone?" Hifumi said.

"Don't worry about me, I'm tougher than I look and I'm small and sneaky!" Morgana boasted "Plus I'm the most experienced member here, I can easily sneak around the palace and see if I can find any maps or safe-rooms on the way, I'll come back to you guys once I find one and we can discuss our next course of action from there".

"That sounds good, anyone object to the plan so far?"

Silence, the winds continued to howl from around them.

"Then it's set, nice idea Missus Niijima, it's easy to see where Queen gets it from".

"Oh please, someone has to help" Sae said, blushing slightly "and I think gaining our bearings will be vitally important, should we need an escape route or anything else like that"

"I agree" Morgana said.

"Hey, just one more question for you Mona!" Mishima suddenly piped up.

"Yeah?"

"Well you said anyone of us could activate our own powers, should we awaken our true self" Mishima said, his eyes as bright as could be.

"Yeah, where's this going?"

"So if we could all activate our persona's..."

"Let's leave that for later, everyone else whose activated their Persona's here have found themselves in a position of great danger and only just got out of it" Morgana said "Plus once you use it for the first time you are generally exhausted afterwards, usually we'd leave the palace after an awakening, like I explained earlier. But right now I don't think we have that luxury, if the police are hunting us down, we need to get to the treasure within one go. With no breaks in the real world, we'll use the saferooms when we can to rest up, but this palace looks huge... so we need to avoid uneccessary problems, understood?"

"Yeah, yeah, okay..." Mishima muttered, slightly dejected.

"Now sit tight, if I'm not back in half an hour... Joker you know what to do"

Akira nodded.

"I'll send two or three of us in to try and find you and leave the rest here to protect these guys" Akira (or Joker as of now) told Morgana, who nodded.

"Great, then this is the start of hardest and biggest job! Good luck everyone, but for now, just sit tight!"

and so they watched as he left, leaving them waiting for his return.

* * *

"It's been 10 minutes now"

They still had 20 minutes left but that still made Akira nervous as he paced up and down the deck, most of the group were discussing matters among themselves, while Makoto and Sae were by the entrance to the palace, when Morgana came back through that way, they wanted to be the first to know what he was going to say or where the nearest safe room was.

"10 minutes... 10 minutes..."

"Joker come on, chill out man" Ryuji muttered "Mona knows what his doing, we have to have faith in him"

"But didn't you first find him captured?" his mother pointed out, as Ryuji turned a shade paler.

"Err... yeah, but that's beside the point" Ryuji argued "Anyway, I'm surprised you haven't commented on this thing I'm wearing"

"Actually makes you look classy, now if you'd just dye your hair back to black..."

"Muuummmm...!"

"I agree, it would look better for you Sakamoto" Kawakami added.

"My hair is fine, stop messing with it!" Ryuji snapped "and besides it's skull here, not Sakamoto"

"Do you want me to be mother skull then?" his mother joked to herself, as she and Kawakami shared a smile.

"Um... Joker! Can I talk to you for a minute!?"

Looking away from Ryuji and his daily dose of problems, he could see it was Chihaya who had addressed him, she was sat crossed legged on the deck, a slight distance away from the others, a series of tarot cards were in front of her. Complying with her request, Joker sat next to her.

"It felt weird calling you that and seeing you like this and seeing all of this..." she mused, her violet eyes becoming lost in the unnatural sky above her.

"You wanted to speak to me, about that?" Joker asked with a frown.

"Oh no! Of course not!" she said, shaking her head to snap back to reality "Joker, I've being reading through the fates of your Arcana's here and the girl with the priestess arcana is in grave danger, her readings show... that death awaits her, in the very near future".

"What?" Joker inquired, something about this statement sent chills down his spine.

"I don't know who it is, but a girl in this group I'm pretty sure, with the priestess arcana will die very soon" Chihaya said "This reading alarmed me, but then I remembered you saying that fate wasn't absolute and could be changed".

Joker knew this of course, but he also knew that by some means Chihaya had an genuine ability through her card readings, to see into the future and if what she was saying was true...

It clicked for him there and then, everybody else was gathered together, whereas Sae and Makoto were by the door...

Priestess...

He felt his breath thicken, his heart rate accelerate, he felt himself stand up of his own accord and just above the large arched door, that led the way into Shido's palace, he could see movement, somebody had just leaped up and there was aiming something pointed directly at...

"MAKOTO!" He bellowed, forgetting code-names completely in those moments, "MOVE!"

Alarmed, she did so, as the ground below her feet exploded a second later, Sae was thrown back by the force of it and collapsed on the railings, blood already falling from her head due to some wood that left a gash on her forehead. But Makoto was worse off, being closer to the source of the explosion, she was violently thrown through the air and pelted with debris that left cuts and bruises littering her body, she hit the deck hard and judging by a horrible "cracking" noise, Joker was certain some bones had been broken due to the impact. She lay helpless and unconscious on the deck, her attacker had already cleared the dust cloud and fired a beam of light in her direction, to finish her off.

Joker had moved forward of his own accord, he felt a heat behind him, as he had bellowed the name of one of his persona's he owed. He didn't have much time to think, only to form a barrier that blocked the light beam and that saved Makoto's life, shaking from head to toe because of this close encounter, he stepped over Makoto's prone body and directly faced her grinning attacker.

"Well... well... well... what a clever trick, I should have known you'd end up cheating death"

Joker gulped as his attacker laughed openly at him, he was looking at the frozen group of (mostly rookie's) behind him.

"and you brought lambs to the slaughter, oh this is going to be... very, interesting, indeed".

Goro Akechi was standing there, grinning manically, Robin Hood was behind him, ready to attack.

* * *

 **A/N: hope y'all enjoyed and now onto answering reviews once again!**

 **fatty365- Thanks for understanding and I hoped this chapter helped move along the story for you.**

 **prinnyramza- You'll just have to wait and see, I also have a bad habit of leaving chapters on cliff-hangers so I apologise for that in advance, but next chapter should wrap things up nicely before moving onto the next arc.**

 **Fireball disaster- Glad you mentioned that, in short, Akira hasn't completed Shinya's confidant link at this point (it reflects how it was in game) where I managed, with the help of a guide, to get everyone to max except for him as I wasn't too interested in his character compared to the others. So Shinya knows Akira by this point, but doesn't know about him being a Phantom Thief, however this doesn't mean Shinya won't appear in this fic at all, as I have an idea for him but I have yet to write it to see if it feels right, as for the persona you suggested for him, it sounds interesting, thanks for your input!**

 **Ulrich362- Yep as you can see, things have gotten brutal very fast, and as for the rest of your review, yep the Phantom League (as I now like to call them, shout-out to Shadow of a queen for that) will have to traverse this palace in a single day (or single run) and then head back, somehow send the calling card with Shido's men hunting them down and then steal his heart for good, granted they have supplies and numbers, it's become a more high risk, higher stakes and higher reward story, anyway thanks for you review, and I hoped you liked this chapter.**

 **Shadow of a queen- Thanks for your review once again and yeah glad I managed to make everyone useful in their own little ways, as for Mishima, I have things planned for his character, being on the side-lines and being supportive is one thing but in a palace itself? Let's just say he'll have a very interesting arc indeed from what I have planned. Also I felt like the train scene could have been longer, but I didn't want to drag and hope it came off as somewhat amusing and the captain thing was something I personally took pride in, glad you're loving Makoto and I intend to keep her as best girl.**

 **and thanks to the guest for reviewing!**


	4. Judgement Call

"Akechi" Joker growled.

Goro Akechi smiled back at him.

"Whatever happened to Crow? Or Queen? Joker... did you forget codenames?" he snarled, leering openly at where Makoto lay behind the phantom thieves leader.

Joker narrowed his eyes and heard the persona behind him (which he now realised was Seth) growl menacingly in Akechi's direction. Robin Hood, as heroic as he looked on the outside, was simmering in a sinister blue flame, as he prepared to fire another arrow of light in Joker's direction.

"What are you doing here!?" Joker bellowed, trying to keep Akechi distracted, as a new plan had formed his mind and he knew his teammates were already one step ahead of him in pulling it off.

"Isn't that obvious?" Akechi inquired "Shido sent me here to eliminate you. I guess you caught wind of his plan to terminate you all, I continue to be impressed by your ability to evade death, despite the impossible odds stacked..."

" GET EM, SEITEN TAISEI!"

"DANCE, HECATE!"

"KAMU SUSANO-O, STRIKE!"

"RUSH THEM, ASTARTE!"

Four beams smashed into Akechi, a bolt of electricity, sharp icy winds, a rain of fire and waves of psychokinesis all hit him as once, behind them all, a large, glowing, multi-coloured ball, that Futaba resided within, Prometheus, was supplying them with more damage for their surprise attack, for a second there was nothing. Then, the deck seemingly exploded and Akechi was lost in a haze of dust and smoke, Joker allowed himself a minute to breathe, before he grabbed Makoto and held her within his arms, he ran back towards where the other members of the group stood frozen because of the scene they were witnessing.

"Keep her safe!" he exclaimed to Yoshida, who was nearest.

"Erm... yes of course..." Yoshida mumbled, as Joker set her down and turned back towards the dust cloud, the others all gathered around an unconsicous Makoto, as they did a maniacal laugh came from the cloud itself.

"A DISTRACTION! THAT WAS YOUR MASTERPLAN!?" The insane howls coming from the cloud, were anything but laughter, it was almost like a pained screech, "WELL LET ME SHOW YOU, THAT MY SKILLS FAR EXCEED YOURS!"

It wasn't just one, but half a dozen glowing arrows tore through the air, each one of them landing there intended target, Skull fell back with a painful thump and found himself stuck in place on the ground, the arrow wedged in his shoulder. Whenever he tried to move it just made his entire body shake and tingle with excruciating pain, gasping, he fell backwards, the other members of the Phantom Thieves found themselves in similar predicaments, each arrow keeping them stuck in place, unable to move. It was clear by the way Akechi was squinting his eyes and sweating, that it was taking him a great deal of effort to keep these arrows present and too keep the phantom thieves held in place, unable to do anything.

"This won't take long" Akechi muttered sadistically, leaning over where Joker himself was pinned to the ground, their faces merely inches from each other "You see here Joker, I intend to eliminate you, one by one, breaking you down as you go...".

"S-s-s..." Joker tried to mutter, trying to summon his persona once again, yet it was fruitless, as a wave of pain made him convulse on the spot, leaving him gasping for air.

"I could do this all day!" Akechi exclaimed, yet judging by the sheen of sweat now coating his face and the way his words were becoming a painful wheeze, Joker very much doubted that "and this is just a portion of my power! You haven't seen anything yet! Now, why don't I show you, that I'm really not here to fuck around, this is my welcoming gift too you, the corpse of your precious... Makoto"

Joker tried to move, he tried to speak, but the pain was becoming blinding now, but if he continued to struggle it was possible Akechi would run out of energy.

"ENOUGH!" Akechi growled "Let me get this over with...!" which only confirmed to Joker he was running thin on stamina, yet he was strolling right up to Makoto now and he was powerless to stop it, to move, to even scream her name... and she was defenceless...

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Somebody was running forward and had attempted to physically stop Akechi, he raised his fists but suddenly found himself in suspended animation.

"Child's play, how pathetic" Akechi drawled, not even looking at where Mishima had attempted to stop him.

A terrified Mishima was then thrown through the air and hit the wooden floor hard, gasping for air as he felt the wind get sucked out of him.

BANG!

The bullets had stopped short of Akechi's face, he turned to see a man had fired a gun at him, with another boy stood behind him.

"Cute" was all he said.

With another gush of air, the boy and man also tumbled wildly through the air, the boy hit the floor, hard and lost conscious, blood spilling from an open wound on his scalp, whereas the man fell next to him, something cracked and he screamed and held his twisted ankle, however a second later his concern was on his son, who appeared in much worse shape than him. Iwai crawled over to him, bellowing "KAORU! KAORU!" yet Akechi had no time for that sort of thing. So what if the son was dead? Who was he too care? Besides, the whole father-son thing meant nothing to him...

Absoutley nothing.

"Stop!" a foolish old man exclaimed, spreading his arms and shielding Makoto "There must be a way we can talk about this! You don't want too..."

A few seconds later, No Good Tora was gasping on the ground, a fair, few, feet away from Makoto, with a few broken ribs.

"Anyone else!?" he challenged of the frozen rookies to the team, the effort to keep the phantom thieves in place was certainly something, but these guys... they were truly pathetic, not a single attack had even dented him, or made him lose anymore resolve or energy, he had to laugh, maybe he'd leave them too the shadows, because killing them would take no effort at all.

"You'll have to go through all of us!" A goth said, stepping forward in Yoshida's place "If you want to get to her!"

Akechi smiled, "Gladly"

Takemi found herself next to Yoshida mere moments later, clutching her stomach and snapped wrist, wondering why on earth she had challenged him in the first place, she had seen how strong he was, how powerless they all were... why had she done it!? She realised then how truly and utterly hopeless they were within this palace.

"NO!" Sojiro bellowed, as Akechi's shadow loomed over Makoto, the man was currently trying to help a prone Futaba whose Persona had vanished, leaving the weak girl pinned to the wall, but seeing how much danger Makoto was in, he made a move to run forward but found himself frozen in place, unable to move or even breathe.

"No more talking, from any of you!" he snapped, anyone else who wasn't pinned to the wall or floor by the arrows, or who was withering in pain somewhere around the deck, was stuck in this unmoving, paralyzed state, Akechi's limbs felt heavy now, another thirty seconds was all he could muster, but that's all he needed, raising his sword, with no one left who could protect Makoto, he glanced back at where Joker was watching him helplessly and the feeling of his superiroty bolstered in those moments, adrenaline coursed through his veins, no matter how hard Joker pushed to free himself, the europhia Akechi felt, kept him in place.

"This... this is what I live for!" he thought joyfully in his head "People see me, acknowledge me, for my strength, this will be just like father, later on..."

He could see Joker's eyes filling up now, as he raised his sword over Makoto's chest. Seeing him so powerless... yes! This is what Akechi wanted! This is why he aimed for Makoto first, he saw how much she meant to the Phantom Thieves leader and her smarts were too much of a risk to be kept around. As foolish and non-threatening the others were, he couldn't deny Makoto had some brains on her, but now it was time to put an end to this..."

"SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR PRECIOUS QUEEN!" Akechi roared, gloating at the helpless Joker, as he drew his sword down...

"NO!"

Now it was Akechi's turn to be blown back, he managed to flip over and land on his feet, but gasped in pain, the side of his torso was tingling, someone had managed to break through his defensive aura and not only that, he'd lost control of the others. As they all broke free with gasps, Akechi had to wonder, who the hell had hit him!? All the Persona users were down, they couldn't have possibly attacked him and the one's without persona's didn't stand a chance, so who the hell...!?

"YOU! STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"

Akechi groaned, how foolish of him to forget about Sae Niijima herself.

* * *

Sae stood there, blue flame engulfing her form, the shot she had fired at Akechi, hadn't come from any sort of gun... but inside of herself. When she gained her bearings and saw everybody getting flung around like china dolls, by that psychopath Akechi, she didn't know what to do. Blood was still in her eyes and she couldn't see, her ears were ringing, her entire body ached... she tried limping forward to little avail, until she froze at the sight of Akechi, dressed in heroic clothing, with that heroic looking... thing looming behind him. With his sword raised over her sister's body.

Sae had felt her heart turn to ice.

"No"

She was powerless to stop this injustice, just like she had been with her father and now she was about to lose another member of her family, the only member of her family she had left.

"No"

She raised her hand, begging him to stop, but he couldn't hear her, no one could.

"SAY GOODBYE TO YOUR PRECIOUS QUEEN!" Akechi had roared.

"NO!" Sae felt herself screaming now, she would not stand for this at all, her hand balled into a fist and she felt something change... the pain seemed to subside in those moments, the air heated up around her, the ice in her heart shattered, replaced by a burning fury, to her amazement, from her balled up fist, a blast of nuclear power soared directly towards Akechi which caught him at the side of his torso and made him leap back, his eyes quickly found where Sae was limping towards him of her own accord.

"YOU! STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"

"Finally, you've found true justice!" a voice inside of her exclaimed "Now shall we proceed with your contract?"

Sae didn't know what the hell was going on, but she nodded regardless.

"Splendid, then let us proceed..."

* * *

"Hey... hey... are you alright?"

Akechi's hold on the group had been broken, allowing Ohya of all people to shake Makoto awake, the student council president didn't remember much, one minute she was talking to her sister, waiting for Morgana's return, then Joker had screamed her name, then there was a blast of hot air before the world went black. Judging by the pink-ish red sky above her and the feel of smooth wood beneath her hands, she knew she was still on the front deck, she also found it painful to move, her whole body ached.

"W-what happened?" she asked, slowly trying to rise, seeing her slick, black, biker's do had several cuts in places and Makoto herself was covered in bruises and gashes, gritting her teeth through the pain, she slowly tried to sit up...

and then she heard the screams, her sister's screams, high and terrible.

and not waiting for Ohya's answer, she pulled herself to her feet, despite her body protesting at this sudden movement.

"SIS!" She yelled out of ice-cold fear.

"It's alright Queen!" Joker yelled over to her, remembering to use her codename this time around, the tears that threatened to spill out over his eyes were all but gone, his gaze was cool and collected, a small smile on his face, as he pulled himself to his feet.

"Your sister is one of us now"

* * *

Sae screamed to the high heavens above.

It felt like her head had been spilt in half, the agony that overcame her was unbearable to deal with, yet through her screams she could hear that same voice again, it was feminine, but had a rough edge to it.

"My, my what anarchy is this?" it inquired "All this destruction and injustice you've been unable to stop, while trying hard to uphold a false sense of justice, your father would be ashamed".

"I know..." Sae wanted to weep, but her eyes were dry.

"Look at him... your enemy" the voice instructed, as Sae turned her now golden eyes to where Akechi was glaring back at her "He looks down on you, they all do. A woman in a male dominated society, so tell me, are you going to continue to allow them to walk all over you, while you parade around your own fake strength? Are you going to continue to allow such pressures and expectations to hold you down?"

"No" Sae repeated, her voice determined.

"It's high time you displayed true strength to protect those you truly care about" the voice informed her "There is no form of justice more true than that, now you understand, I'll lend you my strength, I am thou, thou art I... come to realise your true sense of justice and never again fix results within your own selfish interest, from this day forth, you will be born anew..."

"Yes" Sae muttered, her hands finding her face as she realised a mask was glued onto her eyes, obscuring her vision, although it brought her further pain she tugged on the mask, staying firmly on her feet despite the crushing pain, as she continued to pull with all her might...

and then there was ripping sound, as more blood and parts of her skin were torn off with the mask, for a moment she was completely engulfed in sizzling, nuclear energy before the dust settled as Sae Niijima stood there, her persona hovering behind her.

"MAUDE!" She roared, the name of her persona came naturally to her lips, the thing itself took the form of a haggard looking woman, with dull brown hair and a dowdy, medieval styled, crimson dress, adorned in patterns of stark yellow, yet from beneath her overlarge sleeves a pair of metallic looking switchblades buzzed with nuclear energy, her eyes were completely blue and she lacked legs, the tendrils of her dress floated above the ground, where Sae herself firmly kept her feet.

Sae Niijima herself looked slightly similar to her shadow form, in which her dress was similar with the one leg exposed, except this time rather than black robes, she was adorned in a red, skin-tight body dress as well, with black patterns spreading up and down the garment. An overlarge hat sat perched on her head, like her shadow form had done, but a form of two lions rather than casino cards were present on it and like the rest of her outfit it was a reddish colour, while the lions had a golden sheen to them. Rather than the tattoos and her exposed back, this time around, it was covered up and left Sae looking as classy and as fierce as she hoped to look to Akechi right now.

"This means nothing!" Akechi roared back at her, "YOU'RE STILL WEAK NIIJIMA! YOU CAN'T...!"

"MAUDE! VANQUISH HIM!" Sae screamed, as her Persona sprang into life at her battle cry.

She swiped her switchblades through the air, as a wave of nuclear radiation tore past the others and directly towards Akechi, who jumped out of the way at the last second, leaving splintered wood in his wake.

"Don't think this is over!" an exhausted Akechi spat at Sae, "You can't...can't...

This time Sae's strike caught him square in the chest, he was flung backwards and crashed into the railing at the side of the ship, ignoring the horrible sensation, that spread from his chest and up his arms he continued to scream back.

"I've been doing this longer, I know...!"

"You know what?" Sae snapped harshly at him, her Persona at the ready for the next attack "Everything? I highly doubt that, if this isn't over than stay and fight. If I can't defeat you, then stay and fight! What are you afraid of Akechi!? Are you really that weak!? Going after those who can't fight back! All this time I thought you were on my side for justice, but you are the worst villain of them all!"

"WHAT DO YOU KNOW!?" Akechi roared, gradually losing his grip on sanity "I KNEW MORE THAN YOU! I WAS ALWAYS THE BETTER DETECTIVE! I..."

Another blast of energy, but not from Sae this time, her sister had gotten to her feet and the fury in her eyes towards Akechi was enough to make even him fall silent, for the briefest of moments.

"Akechi, it's over" Makoto growled, the rest of the Phantom Thieves stood in a united line with Sae, their Persona's all active and had backed Akechi into a corner "Now if you surrender now, we'll..."

"You are in no position, to give me DEMANDS!" Akechi screamed, but seeing his situation, his face dropped "Okay" he seethed "You win this round! But I'll be back, I'll wear you down, just you wait, just you watch... when you least expect it, I'll strike, when your guard is at it's lowest, I'll be there and one by one you'll fall too me..."

"Akechi" Joker snapped, his voice cold and flat "I'll never allow that to happen, you'll die before you get close to harming anyone in this group, ever again! Now everyone, strike!"

The phantom thieves charged forward, Akechi clenched his eyes shut and growled "DAMMNIT!" before he used the last of his strength to propel himself up in the air, dodging the numerous attacks from below him, landing on his feet near the entrance to the palace, he opened the door and ran inside, leaving the Phantom Thieves glowering at his retreating form.

"LET'S GO AFTER HIM!" Skull bellowed, pumped up full of adrenaline.

"Not yet" Joker informed him, as Sae gasped, her Persona vanishing as she fell to the ground, Makoto was instantly by her side, as Sae groaned "My god, Morgana was right, I feel like I've just ran a marathon"

"Can you stand up?" Joker inquired of her, she didn't answer, but was able to do so, while leaning heavily on her sister.

"So that was it then?" she inquired, smiling at her "I activated my persona?"

"Yeah, sis that was..." Makoto began, but she couldn't find the words to describe it.

"Welcome to the Phantom Thieves, Miss Detective!" Skull exclaimed and despite the weariness of her body, she felt her grin extend, the phantom thieves, who she had been trying so hard to catch, who she vehemently disagreed with merely months ago... now she was one of them completely. The irony was actually hilarious when she thought about it.

"Everyone let's gather up, we need to rest and recover" Joker instructed, regaining his composure and leadership after Akechi's surprising ambush.

Joker watched as the scattered group managed to pull itself together, his gaze rested on Makoto and how he felt angry tears fill his eyes when her death seemed to be confirmed by Akechi, they had barely arrived at the palace and already one of the people closest to him was at death's door. He steeled his resolve and stopped his hands from shaking.

No, as a team they had pulled through, despite Sae saving her sister and all their asses from total collapse or disheartenment from an experienced member's death, they were all still here.

That's what Joker had to keep intact.

He needed the group exactly as it was now.

Alive.

* * *

"Well?"

"He'll live" Takemi assured a nervous Iwai, as she applied bandages around Kaoru's head, while squeezing an ice pack on the source of the bleeding, "He hit his head hard, but he'll be fine and if the rules of this cognitive world apply... then this should just be but a mere bruise" Takemi assured the nervous father "The ice pack here has already stopped the swelling... he just needs rest..."

"Damn, this is crazy" Iwai muttered to her "Some painkillers, medicines, plasters and bandages are enough to cure broken bones, swellings and cuts, we'd be in hospital in the real world".

"Well this isn't the real world" Takemi reminded him "You should know this better than anyone, the toy guns you had there turned into the real deal after all".

"They're not toys, they're models!" Iwai snapped.

"Different words, same thing" Takemi said, she couldn't supress her laughter at how passionately the ex-yakuza member was defending his collection of toys, eventually he smiled as well, although the pair of them still suffered from an aching wrist and ankle, they were able to function thanks to her collection of medicine and the other members of the team who'd been injured in the conflict were all slowly recovering as well. Yoshida moved gingerly and kept clutching his stomach, but he could walk, while the Phantom Thieves themselves seemed fine (although a little bit exhausted) Makoto was still in pain but the painkillers Takemi had given her had the strange effect of scabbing over her cuts and making her bruises disappear.

While those two shared their joke, the rest of the group was still waiting on Morgana while discussing a serious subject.

"Queen's sister!" Skull suggested blindly.

"That's the worst one I've heard so far" Sae droaned, giving her a code-name was a discussion that everybody wanted a part in.

"Hmm... how about Lady?" Yoshida said.

"No, too bland" Sae replied.

"Prosecutor?" Yusuke suggested.

"No, If I want to keep my identity hidden, I wouldn't want to use a word that links back to my job in reality". Sae explained.

"Well, I think it should be something like that, to showcase that you are willing to impose your justice on our foes" Hifumi muttered.

"Sis, how about..." Makoto thought for a second, before the perfect word hit her.

"Judge!"

"Judge" Sae repeated, out of all the names she had heard so far, "Judge" seemed like the most coherent and the more she said it, the more she realised it was a perfect match. It sounded strong on her tongue and fitted her character to a complete tick.

"I like it, okay then... _your majesty_ , Judge it will be!" Sae mused happily.

"Hey, I'll be the _Judge_ of that..." Makoto mused, both sisters found themselves smiling and joking with each other, just like they did when they were little girls, it had been so long since their father had passed, that were allowed a moment to relax and joke together. But now, united as Phantom Thieves, that old bond was returning to them.

"Hey! You've been naming new members, without me!?"

Morgana had returned and he looked furious.

"Ah, you come up with crappy names anyway!" Skull snapped.

"You're one to talk" Panther replied.

"Anyway, Mona did you happen to find anything?" Joker asked, before Skull and Panther could start bickering once again.

Morgana grinned from ear to ear.

"Yeah... a safe room, a map and I located the treasure as well..."

"You found a way to the treasure!" Joker exclaimed in disbelief.

Morgana's smile diminished slightly.

"Yeah... but it's not that simple to get to it" Morgana muttered "I'll explain more when we get to the safe room, it isn't far and the shadows all got distracted and chased off someone, I got a peek and guess who it was...!"

"Akechi" Joker said instantly.

"Wait, how did you...?" Morgana looked around at them all, seeing their injures, the smashed up deck and the fact someone else had awakened a persona, the answer seemed more than obvious.

"Oh... he attacked you?"

"Yeah and that guy was bloody tough!" Ohya gasped "Tell me those shadows aren't all gonna be like that, right?"

Morgana sighed.

"Let's just get the safe room while the shadows are distracted, we haven't got much time we can waste here, they might find us" Morgana said "We can discuss everything there, now come on, let's go".

So with a new persona user at the ready and the group battered but still standing, they followed Morgana into Shido's palace.

The infiltration was about to begin.

* * *

 **A/N: So for those of you how are curious, Maude was what the Empress Matilda was also known by during her lifetime (some say Maud, but I Prefer the E on the end). The Empress Matilda herself was the disputed first queen of England, as Makoto's persona was based on Pope Joan, I wanted Sae's persona to mirror that, in basing their persona of a powerful, female historical figure.**

 **I was going to go with Elizabeth I at first, but I thought Maude would suit Sae better. As I felt England in the 1100's when Matilda was around was more brutal and unforgiving for a woman than it was come Queen Elizabeth's time (granted they were both pretty bad, but 1100's was most likely worse in times of lifestyle, rights and everything else) so I came to that conclusion. As Sae needs to fight (like Matilda did in those days) to stand as equal to those who looked down upon her.**

 **As for the code-name "Judge" I was going to go with Empress, (for obvious reasons, Empress and Queen would have been cool) but I thought with the Arcana's going on and with Haru being the Empress, things would have got a little confusing. But then I really liked the sound of Judge as I brainstormed ideas, so Judge it is, so now onto answering reviews!**

 **Ford1114- Thanks for your reviews on each chapter! glad this whole Phantom League thing is catching on and I had to let the adults have their say on Shido's palace, having different viewpoints and perspectives on things that happen in this palace will continue as the fic goes on.**

 **Ao Kuang Anarchy- Well you were right about Sae and as for your concern, I'll try and keep everyone present, but make every chapter sort of based around one person, with the others on the side. Granted, interactions between the whole group are fun, but sometimes it feels like I have to squeeze everyone in to remind the reader they are still there. It will take a few more chapters for characters to get their own spotlight, but rest assured it will happen and I hope I do pull it off to be one of the best writers out there! Or at least on here... as for Yoshida's persona clothing, well I'll say no more...**

 **Keyblade Writer of the dawn- Glad you mentioned Igor, him and Shinya will be brought up once the first overarching arc is completed (getting the first rec letter) and I am a good sir, but thank you for reviewing!**

 **Shadow Of The Queen- I had to include Ann's bad acting it's mandatory in a persona story and of course Sojiro would stand out, I had to write that sentence just to give the reader a visual representation of how goddamn weird the whole group looked on the train, glad you found it hilarious and as for Akechi you could question why (if he could paralyze the whole group) why he didn't just kill a few Phantom Thieves there and then and be done with it. That will also be explained later, but let's just say he is stupid in a way for "toying" with them, especially the best sisters, hope you liked this chapter!**

 **Ulrich362- Thank you for reviewing, yeah Chihaya was a little bland in game, so she'll serve a useful purpose here and get some juicy development later on as she adjusts to living life of her own free will, you got it right about the awakenings. Well, the one and as for Loki... he'll come later on. Akechi didn't feel the need to use him just yet, as he expected an easy ambush and an easy kill, when the tides turned, he quickly realised he was outnumbered and fled. He probably could have summouned Loki to put him on even-footing as the others, but killing them simply wouldn't satisfy Akechi, in game he wants to be acknowledged and feared before he makes his kills (his plan with Shido etc...) so here he wants to make his presence known and get to Loki when things really go to shit later, but no more on that... anyway glad you liked last chapter, hope you liked this one!**


	5. Ooe No, Here Comes Trouble

"PLEASE, I HUMBLY ASK THAT YOU VOTE FOR ME! MASAYOSHIA SHIDO!"

"...TO ENSURE THE BRIGHT FUTURE OF OUR COUNTRY'S YOUTH..."

"...WE NEED A STRONG LEADER IN THESE TROUBLING TIMES..."

"...I WILL LEAD THIS COUNTRY INTO A NEW ERA..."

Megaphones the size of sofa's were blaring these messages down upon the populace of the cruise ship, as the rookies (and verteans) alike stopped and paused at the site of this palace. It was the most luxurious and grand thing many of them had even seen, everything seemed to have a gold tint to it, the railings of the upper floors, the frames to the doors, the door handles, a strange sort of golden glitter fell from above which vanished before hitting the ground, plant pots were gold, other ormanents were gold and large statues of Shido himself spread around the entrance lobby were also...

"Gold, so much gold" Nagisa muttered in disbelief, reaching her palm out to try and touch some of the falling glitter, yet she found it faded the second she touched it.

"This is repulsive" Fox snapped "Just like Madarame's museum..."

He had a point there, although grand at first, the blinding gold was an assault on the eyes, just like how Madarame's palace had been smothered in the stuff, the winning colour here grew tiresome to look at after a few minutes as Mona lead them forward, yet the rookies couldn't help but stop and stare at something else.

"They're are people here!?" Iwai inquired, looking at the masses of guests all adorned in suit and dresses, each of them wearing a masquerade of a mask over their heads, making them look like the main persona users in some way, they chatted away merrily to each other. Not a single one of them paid attention to a scruffy looking Iwai or the unconscious boy he had in his arms, none of them seemed to care.

"They're cognitions of people, stop staring or they'll get suspicious!" Mona exclaimed.

"This is how Shido sees his wealthy friends then" Judge gasped, still out of breath and leaning heavily on her sister for support "But what's with the masks?"

"He must keep his distance, he thinks all people wear masks when speaking to him, not showing their true selves" Mona replied.

"Well, his not wrong" Judge muttered, before a few curious heads turned in their direction.

"Whose that? Are they on the guest list?"

"What scruffy clothes they're wearing, do you think they should be here?"

"Have they snuck on, should we call security?"

"Better move, now!" Mona pressed and before they could draw more suspicion they followed him up a flight of stairs, a red carpet was lain out for them as they kept at walking pace, but rushed by fast enough so that the other guests wouldn't get suspicious. Joker was sure if it had just been the original group and Sae here, they'd draw much less suspicion as they were dressed just like the others cognitive guests here, but with the likes of Iwai, Ohya, Takemi, Nagisa and Mishima rolling in with their everyday clothing or school uniforms it was going to turn a few heads, for all the wrong reasons.

After what seemed like forever, the group found itself in front of a set of double doors, pressing them open, the large group funnelled into the safe room, which Joker was surprised too see, was a large bedroom. Three beds were present in this place, as the group sat on them or stood around, Mona began to update them all on what he had found, giving a map to Joker which showed him the levels and floors of this part of the ship, there seemed to be an endless maze of cabin corrdiors and ballrooms, although a resutrant was nearby.

"That's probably not even half of this palace" Mona muttered "Anyway, about the treasure, there's a door just ahead of here and I can sense the treasure behind it".

"It's that close!?" Sojiro exclaimed, despite the brawl with Akechi his hotpot had gone untouched and now it lay on the ground, ready for anyone who needed it to be fed later on. "I thought you said it would be deep within this palace?"

"Yeah, I thought that too" Mona muttered.

"But..." Joker said, knowing full well, them strolling up to the door and attempting to open it, wouldn't get them anywhere, there simply had to be more too it than that.

"Well, judging from this map and what I overheard, the room the treasure is within, is the national Representative Chamber".

"The what?"

"It's the place you see on TV" Yoshida explained, being a politician himself he would know all this "It's where votes go to pass and if Shido should get into power, it will become the place where all of his actions are approved by the legislative body".

"But, is everyone going to blindly agree with Shido?" Panther inquired, her blue eyes widened in horror.

Yoshida nodded.

"The entire government he has been building, is on his side" Yoshida said "All his foes have mysteriously suffered accidents and the current Government is on the verge of collapse, once Shido gets into power he'll have complete and total control over any law he wants to pass".

"and no one is going to stop him!" Panther exclaimed.

Yoshida shook his head.

"It had been a suspicion of mine for a while, yet the public seem completely unaware of it and I haven't brought it up, seeing that those that did... well bad things happened to them, now I understand why".

"But wouldn't they come for you too? Don't you have opposing views to Shido?" Sojiro inquired.

Yoshida laughed.

"Oh me? Don't be so silly, to the majority, I'm still No-Good Tora..."

"But they didn't prove that false..." Takemi began.

"Doesn't matter, as the majority of the public still see me as No-Good Tora, with Shido having them already on his side, I don't think he'd have to worry about an unpopular, independent, candidate, running against him. I knew I stood no chance what-so-ever".

"Yet, you've gained some support" Joker muttered, his time with Yoshida had seen the humble and belittled politican gain some of his confidence and speaking skills back.

"Yes, I did and I'm forever greatful that you helped me with that" Yoshida said warmly to Joker "But it appears many see me as... soft. Not a strong enough leader like Shido, but I have my support like you mentioned. If we overthrow Shido, I will continue to give my speeches and hope for a re-election".

"I'm surprised he didn't send someone after you, just to be sure" Sojiro informed him "Shido is one petty guy, he can't let anything go, no matter how small, as proven with the damn purge of his..."

"Yes, well I suppose now, he has killed two birds with one stone" Yoshida said "I never knew Shido well In the political circles, I only knew about him through word of mouth and he seemed very influential..."

"I just knew him as a pathetic, power hungry, jerk" Sojiro snarled "He spoke big all the time, but never followed up on it, well until now, the guy was also a raging drunk and seriously liked to boast about the number of women he slept with, it actually put me and Wakaba off him straight away, we didn't want to associate ourselves with someone like that".

"You must know about too, huh Joker?" Ohya asked "Because from what you told us, it was Shido himself who falsely framed you in the first place, for an assault you didn't commit?"

Joker nodded.

"This is personal to me, but I'm sure it will benefit everyone here and everyone in the country" Joker growled.

"There can no doubt in anyone's mind here that we need to change Shido's heart" Mona said "But let's not get ahead of ourselves, back to what I was saying about the door, we're going to need five letters of recommendation in order to get in"

"Letters of recommendation, ah jeez, where are gonna find those!?" Skull snapped.

"Slow down, I already have a lead, apparently these five letters are entrusted to five of Shido's closest allies and the first name I overheard from people discussing it was a Politican called Ooe..."

"Ooe!" Yoshida snapped instantly, springing up off the edge of the bed he was sat on, "Ooe!" he repeated harshly, the barely contained rage that was in his voice earlier, was coming to the surface now. As the rest of the group stared, shocked at him, the usually, humble, softly spoken and polite politican was now turning a beet red, his eyebrows were scrunched in fury.

"Erm... you know him then?" Sojiro asked, rather taken aback.

"Yes, yes I did" Yoshida muttered, allowing himself to calm down slightly "Although it was my former mentor Kuromoto, who framed me for embezzling funds, I cannot bring myself to hate him, Ooe on the other hand..." he sighed there before continuing "The man always held a stance towards improving Japan's economy at any cost. I would have respected a different opinion, as politics is all about debate, but Ooe sunk to whole new levels, he personally insulted me and many others who disagreed with him and he always had the backing of wealthy organisations whenever we tried to complain about him".

"Sounds like a rich-shit head" Skull commented.

"Oh he was that and so much more, after the whole scandal with the funds It was Ooe himself who first called me No Good Tora, it spread around and soon enough that's what the public came to know me as, No-Good Tora. That name has stuck to me ever since and I see Ooe sometimes, he still gloats to me and asks me to give up already and that I'm a disgrace to politics..." Yoshida looked defeated for a moment, but he gained his resolve as his eyes darkened "I've never known a more selfish or abhorrent man, Joker. I must ask you this, if we are to find Ooe, even if his form is congintive. I am coming with you, I don't really care if I hold you back, or If I'm getting in the way. This is personal for me, I need to go. If I end up getting seriously hurt, it's my own fault, I ask you don't risk your life trying to protect me".

"Yoshida..." Joker muttered.

"Allow me to do this, I'm begging you" Yoshida muttered.

He sighed and looked at the other members.

"The guy has got a score to settle, he can join us!" Skull exclaimed.

"I agree!" Panther added.

"I see no issue here, he knows the risks and he is willing to take them" Yusuke muttered.

"I agree too, but let's ensure we get the letter of recommendation first" Haru pointed out.

"Very well, you can come, but keep close to us" Joker told him, as Yoshida smiled.

"Now we need to discuss something else, our tactics" Mona said.

* * *

"Firstly, there are a few of us in this room who should not battle at all for the next few hours, you need rest and recovery" Mona said, stating the obvious.

"Guess I'm sitting out of this one then" Judge said automatically.

"You too Ma... Queen" Joker quickly said "You need to recover as well, Akechi got you pretty bad there".

"Damn" Queen growled, but as much as she wanted to fight by Joker's side, she knew full well that in her current state she wouldn't last long, but that didn't mean she was happy about it.

"Okay then" she finally muttered, "But Joker, I think we have a big problem, shadows and other congintive beings can't enter safe rooms, but if Akechi is here, he certainly can..."

 _Shit._ Joker hadn't thought of that possibility at all, he remembered Akechi's words back on the front deck...

 _"But I'll be back, I'll wear you down, just you wait...just you watch...when you least expect it, I'll strike, when your guard is at it's lowest, I'll be there and one by one, you'll fall to me...!"_

Is that what he meant? Attacking them all when they were weak and vulnerable? It certainly seemed foolish now to leave this safe-room unprotected, but they couldn't sit and wait here forever for the others to recover, otherwise they'd never get to the treasure in time, or they'd run out of energy and supplies. Constantly going from safe room to safe room with a large group of 20, was no way to stealthy infiltrate a palace, they had to spilt up to cover more ground... but this wasn't going to be easy.

"Noir and Fox, you stay here and defend this place" Joker eventually decided "Me, Mona, Skull and Panther will take on any shadows we encounter, Oracle, you are coming with us as well, for back up support".

"Then I'm coming too, I'm not letting Futaba deal with this alone!" Sojiro exclaimed.

"and I can't bear the thought of you out there, fighting those things, So... Skull. I'm coming too" Nagisa nagged.

"You'll just get in the way!" Mona bellowed "I know you're concerned but we can..."

"No. Let them come" Joker instructed.

"What, why?!" Mona inquired "Joker, they don't have persona's, they stand out and..."

"If Akechi attacks us like he just did back there, it will be easier for Noir and Fox to hold him off for a shorter amount of time. Because, with a smaller group, it will take less time for them to flee and they'll stand out less" Joker said, explaining his reasoning "I think it's best we have one half of the team here and the other half progressing deeper into the palace, mixed with both persona users and rookies alike. Who knows, they might awaken their persona's while going through the palace and then after some rest, they can use them again..."

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea!" Mishima mused, "So... Joker, can I...?"

"If you insist" Joker said wearily, "But don't go charging at shadows with your bare hands, Akechi was probably just toying with you, he could killed you easily and shadows will do just that, without any restraint, understood".

"Y-yes!" Mishima stuttered.

"I have to come as well, or I'll die of boredom in here!" Ohya snapped.

"Very well, Chihaya, you are coming as well" Joker instructed.

Chihaya blinked, rather surprised by this.

"W-why me?" she inquired.

"Your fortune telling skills back there, saved Queen's life" Joker pointed out "I want you to keep on reading the tarot cards you have, whenever you get the time, if it spells death or danger for anyone else, particularly people back here, it would be helpful to know".

Chihaya nodded, "Okay" she said as she pulled out her collection of cards "But first I need to know, who represents which Arcana, so we know whose in danger here... I'm guessing Queen is priestess here, now..." she placed her cards in a row and then looked up at Sae.

"Your arcana is that of Judgement" Chihaya said.

"Befitting of a Judge" she replied, pride in her tone.

"and I'm getting a father and son from the hanged man arcana... so that must you guys, Iwai and Kaoru".

"Hanged man, huh? Interestin'" Iwai muttered "But wait a minute, if you get one of those readings of danger, you won't be able to tell if it's me or Kaoru in danger?"

"That's why it might be best for those with shared arcana's to stay close together" Chihaya said "and you Nagisa share the chariot arcana with your son, but the rest of you guys here should be separate... now give me a minute..." the group watched as she continued to rearrange her cards, she'd flip them over and then mutter something under her breath, that certainly comfirmed her abilities...

"Hermit... what's Alibaba?"

"That's me!" Futaba squeaked, before Chihaya could inquire further.

"Shogi... that must be your's Togo, the star"

"Leblanc... Hierophant. That's you Sojiro"

She carried on, putting some cards into her bag, while keeping the rest.

"Devil? Why do I get devil?" Ohya moaned, when everyone had been assigned their arcana's.

"Sun's not so bad" Yoshida mused.

"Moon for Mishima, I like mine too!" He exclaimed.

"My own is the Fortune card, just in case you are interested" Chihaya told Joker, "I'll keep checking the readings, but right now I'm getting nothing, except for what seems like a multi-headed snake..."

"Might be a shadow we have to face" Joker concluded, "Right, so Me, Mona, Skull, Panther and Oracle will fight on the front lines, Sojiro, Nagisa, Mishima, Ohya, Chihaya and Yoshida, you're coming with us".

They nodded, the party of 11 getting ready to go.

"The rest of you are best off here" Joker informed them "Takemi, you are our medic, we'll take some supplies from here, but the rest you keep stocked and protected, also keep yourself protected, understood?"

"Got it boss" Takemi replied.

He looked over at the group that remained, he was confident with Haru and Fox present (two more level-headed members of the team, well in most cases) would be able to fend off Akechi and even if they failed somehow, it wouldn't take forever for Queen or Judge to recover and they could pack some serious firepower. Hifumi and Kawakami were uninjured and able to move, Iwai still had his eyes over the unconsiconous Kaoru, but both father and son would recover. and despite her lack of firepower thus far, Takemi would not be pushed around and she had more medicine should someone face another injury here.

Joker breathed in deeply, the image of his group stunned by Akechi and of Queen about to have her life snuffed out, flashed through his mind.

"No" he tried to convince himself "This will be fine, they'll be fine".

"We'll come back after we've got our first letter" Joker muttered "We can take the rest from there onwards, any objections?"

There was none.

"Great, then let's get started..."

* * *

"There, I see a shadow Joker".

Among the many grinning and laughing party-guests upon the ship, a shadow dressed in a cabin crew clothing, patrolled the upper deck, the group were using the support pillars to hide themselves, and although to Joker's pleasant surprise, they were quite good at this. Yoshida and Chihaya kept to the shadows not saying a word, while Sojiro and Nagisa tailed by their respective children, keeping a close on eye on both Oracle and Skull, yet despite that...

"Oh... wow, that's a real shadow!"

"If only I could get a picture of that!"

"We really should have left them in the safe room" Mona moaned.

Joker sighed, he was right of course, but to admit it to the cat, would result in weeks of endless gloating from him.

Ohya and Mishima despite Joker telling them for the third time now to keep it quiet, were still whispering far too loudly, it was miracle they hadn't been detected yet. Yet again the coast looked clear, there was only one shadow on the deck, if he could deal with this one then they could begin their search for Ooe. It would be a bit difficult to ask the congintive guests where Ooe liked to spend his time on this cruiser, if there was a shadow breathing down all their necks.

"It's getting closer" Skull muttered the obvious, as Nagisa tensed from behind him.

"Just what are you going to do!?" she squeaked, finally letting her anxiety get the better of her "What happened with that Akechi back there..."

"Relax, it will be nothing like that, these shadows will be weak in comparison, mom it will be a breeze" Skull reassured her.

She didn't look assured at all, but could only wait for what was going to happen next.

"Everyone stay where you are!" Joker instructed "We'll handle this"

Everyone present nodded at his order, so without another word he leapt out from behind his cover and leaped onto the shadow's back, like he had done a thousand times before. The shadow itself span it's head in confusion, before Joker had already pulled the mask from it's face, with a splattering sound, the shadow dissolved into a pool of black liquid, from it, a large dog with fierce yellow eyes emerged, it's fur as white as snow.

"Alright, Hecatoncheires!" Joker roared, summoning his multi-headed monster of a persona, as this persona knew a multide of different elemental skills it would be helpful to find this thing's weakeness.

Mona, Panther and Skull were by his side in seconds, to Joker this felt nostalgic in a way, the founding four of the phantom thieves, back when they were making their way through Kamoshida's castle. It almost felt like a flashback till then, when things were simpler, when the Phantom Thieves were nothing more than a rumour, a one off, comparing that to now...

A roar snapped him out of his stupor, the thing had fired a ball of fire at Panther, who was instantly engulfed.

"Takamaki!" Nagisa yelled in horror, on behalf of her son's friend.

"It's okay Miss Sakomoto" Oracle said from where she was safely within Prometheus "Panther can handle the heat, besides, now we know it's weakness. Ice. Damnnit, where's Inari when you need him, Joker, you'll have to handle this"

"Oracle, give me a power up, I'll make quick work of this" Joker muttered.

The thing aimed another ball of fire at Joker who ducked and rolled out of the way, it hit a wall behind him, as Panther emerged, unscathed from the fireball she had been engulfed in moments beforehand. With Skull now firing a bolt of electricity at the thing to gain it's attention, Joker felt the air around him simmer and heat up slightly, that was the sign he was being powered up, he called on his persona and sent a ball of sharp ice soaring towards the dog, upon contact, it let out an ear piercing shriek and dissolved back into nothingness, from it, dozens of yen burst all over the ground, which Prometheus quickly gravitated towards and collected.

"525 yen, not bad" Oracle yelled.

As quickly as it had started it was over, panting very slightly, Joker felt like he had regained some of the control he had lost beforehand, as the group's Persona's vanished from behind them.

"Where did all that Yen go?" Sojiro couldn't help but ask of his daughter.

"Oh, right here" Oracle pointed out a small bag that looked barely full of yen "Because of how cognition works we can store as much as yen as we collect in this bag, but when we return to the real world, the bag's fit to burst. Usually after a palace we spilt our winnings, it's never usually too much to get excited about, but enough to keep us living and for Joker to get supplies".

"I know you explained this earlier, but God, it's a money making machine!" Sojiro mused.

"It would require us to fight shadows none-stop though to build up a profit" Panther replied "and we want to avoid shadows here, seriously it seems great now, but the money goes so fast when we get back to the real world..."

"Yeah because you spend it on new handbags and stuff!" Skull pointed out.

"I'm not the only one!" Panther raged back "Besides, Queen told us to treat ourselves, to rid ourselves of the money, as it would look suspicious if we suddenly had about a million yen stored with us, on top of the police already suspecting we were Phantom Thieves"

"Suppose that makes sense, but hell... I could use a financial boost, business has been slow lately..."

"Seems like it's always slow"

"Do you really want me to turn you into a real skull?" Sojiro threatened.

"Exactly, Skull don't be rude, that's not how I raised you" Nagisa said.

"But Mom, he just threatened me!" Skull whined.

"Jeez, we've just beaten a shadow and we're moaning about this" Mona said to bring the conversation back to the topic at hand, "But that shadow was really weak, we should be fine for now, the coast is clear, let's ask the people here if they know anything about Ooe, if we spilt up, we'll cover more ground".

"Sounds like a good plan" Joker said "Someone call if they see any shadows, remember, stick to code-names" he said strictly.

"Okay then, but man that was freakin' awesome!" Mishima hyped "It was all like... fireballs and shit! and you threw that ball of ice at it and it just...!"

"Yes, you'll get used to this eventually" Joker muttered, the battle had been very dull indeed, yet nothing seemed to crush Mishima's spirits, it was as if Christmas had come early for the Phantom Thieves' biggest fan.

"But still, people were standing feet away from that, not one person turned or acknowledged the danger they were in" Ohya pointed out, looking around her in disbelief.

"They must not care, they must not want to see the danger right in front of them" Mona said "Think about it, they're on the cruise liner of Shido's who is a very dangerous man. Their entire country lies in ruins and they don't care or bring it up, all they care about is the party here and the fact they've been saved".

"So they're just out for themselves" Chihaya muttered looking around, "This sickens me, it really does".

"As it does to all of us" Yoshida said "But for now, let's begin..."

* * *

"Hey, can I have a word with you guys?"

The group of men and women ignored Skull completely.

"My son asked you a question" Nagisa said politely, yet her voice was stern and steady.

Again no response.

"Have you heard of a politician called Ooe!?" Skull now roared at them.

One masked man, dared to turn his head.

"Who invited you here!? he snapped rudely "I didn't know such vulgar, degenerates, had passes on this ship as well".

"Why you...!" Skull began, before Nagisa quickly stepped in.

"I'm sorry" she said apologising and bowing to the man "My son can be rude sometimes, but we're just curious about..."

"Learn to keep the damn ingrate under control" the man snarled back at her "and where's the young man's father? Oh let me guess, you bred him out of wedlock, like the little slut you are, no surprise there then".

Nagisa felt her face turn pink, she felt movement from behind her and had to reach out her hand to stop her son from hitting this rude man and where it hurt.

"We apologise for bothering you" was all she muttered, bowing again she left the man to his business, she heard the group of people he was talking too laugh harshly at herself and her son as they walked away. Eventually the middle aged woman looked up at her son, who was still glaring at that man...

"Ryuji..."

Mom, remember codenames!" Skull snapped "Besides, are you just going to let him talk to you like that!? Like how Dad used too...!"

He stopped there, his mother had slapped him.

There was a moment of silence, from both mother and son as the slap echoed across the lobby, a few heads stopped and turned, before resuming their conversations about how they were so much better than the "slut" mother and her out of control child.

"I... I'm sorry" Skull muttered, bowing his head, looking ashamed of himself "I shouldn't have brought that up".

"No. It's my fault" Nagisa replied, close to tears herself "I should have left that man long before I did, If I had done, maybe you wouldn't have been so hurt by him, maybe we'd have lived normally and you could have been better adjusted" Nagisa said.

"Mom, but you did leave him" Skull told her with a smile "and hell we're doing alright, I mean you're doing everything you can for me, I just keep on effin' it up..."

"Ryuji" she said again, not caring about code-names but wanting to say her son's own name instead "I am so proud of you and since you've been around Aki... well Joker and since you've been a phantom thief you've learned to pick your battles more wisely. Continue to do that, you can't just get mad at everyone who says something horrible to you, because like it or not son. That's happened a lot and it will continue to happen..."

"Mom..."

"Learn from me, those people aren't worth your energy or your time" Nagisa instructed of him "Don't let these snobs get to you, okay?"

Skull sighed.

"Okay fine" he muttered, as he did, none other than Panther ran up to them.

"Any luck, Tak... I mean Panther?" Nagisa said quickly.

"None at all!" she snapped, "Some old guy said he'd tell me, If I gave him a massage back his own room... ugh..." she snarled "I'm so sick and dealing with perverted creeps! I tried asking some lady as well, but she didn't even look at me!"

"I know right, the people here are so fuckin' rude..." Skull snarled.

"Yeah, they are" Panther agreed.

"You both need to clear your heads and calm down, maybe we'll leave the asking around to the others, I'm sure they've made progress" Nagisa told them "Besides, we'll attract suspicion and loathing from the guests here if we carry on".

Panther and Skull looked back at her.

"Maybe you are right Miss Sakamoto" Panther finally muttered "I think I'm gonna end up punching somebody if I carry on getting spoken to like that, come on Skull, let's try and calm ourselves down"

"How?"

"Oh I know, how about a game of I-spy!" Panther exclaimed happily.

"We're in the middle of the most dangerous palace we've ever been in and you want to play, I-spy!?" Ryuji inquired.

"Sure" Panther replied simply "Now, I spy... something beginning with A..."

"Asshole" Skull snapped "Assholes everywhere"

Panther's eyes widened behind her mask.

"Seriously, no fair!" she squeaked "How'd you get it on your first go!?"

"For real!? That was the answer!?" Skull mused, before he muttered "Okay then it's my turn!" he suddenly seemed a lot more into the game, now he'd managed to achieve something from it, "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with a P..."

"Piece of shit, isn't it?" Panther said, following Ryuji's eyes to Shido's golden statue.

"What!? Oh come on...!" Skull roared.

"You're so predictable, besides you can only use one word Skull, not three..."

"Can so"

"Can't!"

"God, you two haven't changed, this is just like when you were in middle school" Nagisa mused.

"Ugh... Mom, it's nothing like that" Skull snapped in his whiny, teenage, tone.

To Nagisa however it certainly was, she remembered hearing them speak like that all the time, while Ryuji had made friends in middle school, before Takamaki met Shiho, she had nobody to talk too. Everyone made fun of her of hair and people spread horrible rumours about her all the time, her son had been the only one to see through it all and speak to Takamaki, not like she was an untouchable, stuck up goddess, but an actual person. Having her around their house only confirmed that to Nagisa.

 _She remembered comforting Takamaki one day when they were both sat outside the principal's office, Takamaki was wiping away tears._

 _"What's wrong dear?" Nagisa had asked of the 13 year old._

 _"Oh erm... nothing really" she sniffed._

 _"You know you can tell me" Nagisa said warmly "I won't laugh, honestly"._

 _"It was horrible, Miss Sakamoto" Takamaki said, diving straight into her story "We were in gym class yesterday and the girls kept teasing me because of my hair, I tried to focus but then they started pulling it and I just lost it. I slapped one of them and they all started screaming that I was a freak! I ran out crying and..." she sighed there "Everyone saw it! Everyone in my class! I'm going to call in sick today, have my parents come and pick me up, then I can... I can dye my hair black and be normal..."_

 _"You shouldn't do that" Nagisa encouraged her "Don't let those bullies get too you, dying your hair isn't the answer"._

 _"But I stand out!" Takamaki had protested, "I'm the only blonde freak in the class! I can't be normal like this!"_

 _"Only blonde in the class, huh? Well not much longer Takamaki"_

 _Both mother and student jumped, when they saw the principal standing there._

 _"Takamaki, the school nurse says you are fine, you will return to class this instant" he instructed harshly "and Miss Sakamoto, I called you in to discuss your son and why he thinks it's acceptable..."_

 _He pushed Ryuji forward._

 _"To do this"_

 _Ann Takamaki couldn't hold back her laughter, the tears dried instantly as she saw Ryuji there, with a head full of blonde hair._

 _"Oh erm... hi mom" he said nervously, before he turned to Ann "What's so funny about this!? I thought it would look cool"_

 _"Ryuji..." she gasped "You...look... ridiculous!" she screamed, gasping with mirth._

 _It was one of those moments Nagisa glared down at her son, but inside she couldn't be prouder of him, because she knew full well what he'd done and why he'd done it, even if he'd never give the honest answer. Despite his temper mirroring his father's sometimes, she knew her son couldn't be anymore different from that loathsome man who used to beat them both whenever he felt like it._

Nagisa opened her eyes in present day, she remembered that memory fondly and was gladdened to hear her son and Takamaki... or maybe she'd start calling her Ann from now on. We're speaking once again after drifting apart, in fact the whole group she was surrounded by right now seemed like good people, people who truly stood up for all that was right in the world.

Outcasts, freaks, those society had looked down upon, like herself and Ryuji, well here they all were, in the future prime minster's palace. Despite only just joining the Phantom Thieves, Nagisa already felt at home, these people all felt like her... those society had looked down upon. But now here they were, working together to change Shido's heart.

Determined to show him, what a bunch of "nobody's" could really do.

* * *

 **A/N: Hope you enjoyed this somewhat slower paced chapter, now the group are separated we will start to see more chapters focused around one character in particular or more group interactions fleshing out and developing characters, now onto answering reviews!**

 **Shadow of a queen- Glad you're loving the fic and the best sisters, expect to see more of them soon and once again thanks for reviewing!**

 **SSJGamerYT- Yep, Sae's awakening was awesome, as for her overpowering Akechi, it seems like when the persona users have their awakenings they become powerful for a short space of time, before they end up barely able to move afterwards. Also at this point Akechi himself was exhausted from holding the group in place, but he'll be back with smarter tactics next time...**

 **RyoTheSaiyan and azreal09876- Based on both of your reviews I went to check Scruffy turtles fan art on what the adult confidants would look like, I'll use some of them as basis, but a lot of them were entirely different to how I want the adult Phantom thieves too look or what I have planned for them. But time will tell and I hope you like what the end result is.**

 **Ford1114- Pretty much summed up last chapter and this one, can you guess what will happen next!? Anyway, looking forward to hear your review once again.**

 **Mad Hatter Stories- Liking your suggestions for Hifumi and Yoshida and your name for Ohya (scoop) is defiantly something I'll consider, but thanks for leaving your thoughts and hopefully you liked this chapter too.**

 **RavenBlaze4850- Loving the story, eh? Glad to hear and I liked seeing what you thought of every chapter thus far, can't wait to hear your views on this one, hope it impresses!**

 **and finally Ulrich362 thanks again for reviewing, now, until next time!**


	6. Do-Good Tora

No-Good Tora.

How sick he'd grown of that damned nickname, that selfish little jibe used to sap away all the confidence he once had as a younger man, there were so many occasions where his speeches, told directly from the heart had been drowned out because of hecklers, hurling that insult towards him. As if it made them more powerful, as if it gave them the automatic right to silence him. As if past mistakes were all he was as a man and he could never be trusted, or redeemed again.

and the worst part of it all, is that he allowed himself to suffer like that.

Any sane man would have gone onto another quiet job in order to make a living, to take Politician Ooe's advice and give up on the general public who continued to slander him, to shame him and think nothing of him, he had tried, endlessly and tirelessly to work towards their well-being and what did he get in return?

"Look at that, it's No-Good Tora"

"Wonder what he's doing here?"

"Must be seeing a more qualified politician, begging for advice".

Yoshida felt his hands ball into fists.

So this is how Shido viewed him, with complete indifference and loathing, He looked up across the glittering balconies and up at where Shido's golden statue was seemingly leering down at him. Shido, emblazoned in gold, praised by everyone here for cheating his way up the political system, whereas he... who had lived in hell these past 20 years, continuing down the only career path he knew he loved and doing so honestly, was loathed and ignored.

He deserved that golden statue.

He deserved this recognition and praise.

Maybe that was wrong of him to think, but he saw red in those moments, he didn't care.

"Calm down Yoshida" he instructed of himself.

But it was still difficult for him, stuck in his shabby business-suit, forced to queue at food banks whenever the bills ran high, stuck in a crappy apartment, the stress and shame of his job caused him many restless nights, caused him to barely sleep at all when he didn't weep himself into a slumber after a particularly awful round of abuse. He started eating too much and washing too little, he gained weight, his hairline had started to recede, his face became blocky and bloated, nothing at all like the handsome, square jawed youth he once was. Looking around at these guests, who seemed prim and perfect, in great shape and great clothing, made him feel even more envious and the statues of Shido leering down at him hardly helped matters.

He wanted this.

No, he shook his head, this is who he once was, a foolish airhead like these other wealthy guests.

Now he was someone else and he had to help the others out.

"Excuse me" he muttered to a group next to him "As you probably know, I'm the disgraced No-Good Tora..."

"Yes we do" a woman spat at him, on behalf of her group "What's some washed up old nobody, like you, doing here!?"

Yoshida gulped, he'd been subjected to these comments for years, he had to suck it up.

"I have an appointment with Politician Ooe" Yoshida said "I'm going to resign from being a politician altogether just like he advised. I was a fool for all these years for believing I could ever compare to the likes of him or Shido. I want to throw all my support behind them both, but first I need to find them. I'm so helpless I lost the way..."

"Unbelievable" the woman muttered, as the group laughed with her "Of course you'd lose your way, like I said, useless nobody. Fat, fossils, like yourself, should know your place".

"Please" Yoshida said, keeping his voice steady "I'll be sure to throw in a good word to Politician Ooe, about the kind lady who assisted me in finding the... what was it again? Where was he...?"

"The restaurant, the private one!" The woman snapped "He always spends his time in there, Seriously are you going senile, old man?"

"Probably" Yoshida said with a pathetic smile.

"Oh and it's Charo, remember to tell Ooe that, I might even get a pass to get into the restaurant"

"I shall keep to my promise" Yoshida lied "Thank you once again"

She scoffed at him as Yoshida walked back towards the rest of the group, intel at the ready.

"Oh, there you are" Chihaya said running up to him "Did you get any information? I couldn't bear to speak to these people, the woman all insulted me and the men just wanted me as their... well, you know what... ugh" she shrugged "To think Shido's congition would churn out such horrors".

"I know" Yoshida said "But I know where we'll find Ooe, I got the information".

"Oh... well done!" Chihaya said, eyes bright "Yoshida, that's a great acco... are you alright?" she asked suddenly, her violet eyes widening in concern.

"Hmm, why'd you ask that?" Yoshida inquired with a kind smile.

"Your..." she pointed at her own cheeks, confused Yoshida touched his own and was alarmed when he felt wetness there.

How long had he been crying for?

He hadn't even realised when he had started, or why he had done...

"It's nothing" he muttered, quickly wiping his face "I have erm... allergies..."

"Allergies in a palace?"

"Erm... yes... it erm... happens, listen we have the information, I think we should let Joker and the others know" Yoshida stuttered, before he was gone and Chihaya was left looking at his back, feeling concerned for him and wondering whether it was time for another tarot card reading just to ensure he really was "fine" and that nothing horrible was going to occur to him in the near future.

* * *

"The restaurant, he'll be in there then?" Joker asked, as Yoshida nodded, everyone else had come up flat seeing how rude the people on this ship were and how they were considered nobodies, not worth their time and only their insults.

Yet the patient and polite Yoshida had managed to get it out of them.

"But it won't be that simple" Yoshida muttered "The woman I spoke too said it was a private restaurant and you'll need a pass to enter".

"Oh great, so many passes and shit" Skull groaned "Why can nothin' be effin' simple!?"

"Well this palace isn't simple, let's just be thankful we haven't had to deal with many shadows yet" Mona muttered "But how on earth are we going to find a pass?"

"You're small and sneaky, just steal one" Skull nagged.

"If I am going to steal one, I need to know off who" Mona said "I can't just go up to everyone..."

"God, you're all useless at this" Ohya nagged, entering the argument "Now allow me to be useful, if this place works like a cruise ship, then it will be easy to find a pass, now just watch me" and before anyone could get a word in, Ohya was already strolling up to nearby bar.

"Oh God, not again" Mona muttered, knowing full well the Journalist's love for booze of all things.

Ohya took a seat at the bar as if she owned the place.

"HI!" She began in a voice too causal for her surroundings, the bartender acknowledged her presence with a curt nod, "So erm... listen... I... happened to drop something..."

"Hmm" he hummed "What did you drop exactly?"

"Well, a pass to the restaurant" Ohya muttered "This where lost property gets handed in, right?"

"Well yes" the bartender responded "But we haven't had such a thing turned in here"

"Oh okay then, would it be likely to be dropped off at another bar around the lobby here?"

"More than likely"

"Okay then, thank you!" Ohya mused, before she returned to the group "Now you guys just stay put, I'm going to find us a pass..."

"But..." Skull began.

"Let her, I'm sure she knows what she's doing" Joker muttered, he wanted to place extra pressure on the Journalist to see if she really was of use without her persona and that she had a reason, or a purpose for being here. But if this was a pressuring job for her, Ohya didn't show it. As the short haired woman simply smiled wider and boomed, "This'll be easy, just watch" and with that she was gone, already making a bee-line towards the next bar, Joker kept an eye on her form and kept double checking the crowds for any shadows that were hidden among the wealthy guests, yet none of them appeared for the time being. It seemed like Akechi really had drawn them away... he re-checked his map to see the restaurant was on the floor above him, If Ohya could get this information then they were going to be faced with Politician Ooe, very soon.

"Chihaya" he said quietly, as she rushed up to him "I want you to conduct another card-reading, it's likely we'll be fighting very soon and if anyone's in danger, I want fate changed, you hear?"

"I understand" the young fortune teller responded, pulling out her cards.

* * *

"Checkmate! Now you have to surrender!"

"I don't get this bloody game!" Iwai snapped down at the Shogi board as if it had just insulted him personally.

"You're meant to be protect the king, dad" Kaoru pointed out, he had awoken at last and his head wound was now, near, none, existent. Judge and Queen were sleeping and Fox and Noir had stepped outside the safe room, they'd be patrolling outside for Akechi while also trying to gain more information on who else had these letters of recommendation. Everyone agreed with this action, while Judge and Queen rested up, (their injuries healing up unnaturally fast) the rest of the group were left in silence, until Hifumi had pulled out a Shogi board and asked anyone if they wanted to play. As Kaoru had awoken and lifted Iwai's spirits, he had volunteered to do so, but the owner of Untouchables was now back in a sour mood.

"I can't believe this" he snapped "They're out there, doing something useful and getting intel and those letters and we're sat here playing Shogi..."

"There's nothing more we can do, we'd just get in the way" Hifumi told him calmly "Besides, we're too big of a group to sneakily get through this palace and our clothes drew suspicion beforehand, so I imagine they will do so now as well"

"I think we all know why we have to be here" Kaoru muttered "But none of us feel good about it, it really does feel like we're slacking off or something".

Hifumi shook her head sadly.

"Sometimes, you need to know when to make the right move, no matter how frustrating it can be" Hifumi muttered, "Or else you'll lose the game".

"But sometimes" Takemi added unexpectedly as she leant down and slid a shogi piece across the board "You _have_ to make a move, or else you lose the game".

Hifumi smiled slightly.

"I suppose that's true" she said "But enough about all of this, we've been put together so unexpectedly and in such a short space of time, why don't we use this time to get to know each other a little better".

"I suppose it's better than just sitting here, losing at Shogi" Iwai muttered.

"Why don't we make this more fun that simple getting to know you stuff" Kaoru piped up, the youngest one of them all, was grinning to himself "My teacher made this fun icebreaker challenge where you'd have to tell the class two things about yourself, one thing was true and the other was false. Whoever guessed the most correct answers got to win a sum of 1,000 yen".

"Is that even legal?" Kawakami inquired "Pretty sure we're not allowed to do something like that at Shujin".

"Well our teacher was cool with it, he really loves his job and the game was fun!" Kaoru stated, "So I'll start, I used to a have birthmark on my neck that I got bullied for and I don't really wear these glasses because I need them, I just wear them too look cool, which one is true and which one is false, Dad answer last, because you'll know the answer".

They all got the correct answer, except for Kawakami who groaned "Really? You got bullied because of something like that?".

"Bastards, the lot of em'" Iwai snapped on her behalf "Got this gecko tattoo to counter such assholes, shoulda seen their faces when I turned up on the playground to have a word with the principal about it..." Iwai smiled there, "Suffice to say Kaoru hasn't been bothered since, they didn't know I was Yakuza, probably suspected it, but I terrified them never-the-less".

"That's... strangely sweet of you" Takemi muttered "and I thought that was some awfully designed, gang tattoo you had"

"It's the only one I have but I don't regret it" Iwai told her.

"Seriously, you have to more than one tattoo, Yakuza have loads" Takemi said to him.

"Okay then, I do have tattoo's, loads of them on my shoulders" Iwai said "and I also killed three people in my life, which is true and which is false?"

The room fell silent at this.

"Please tell me you do have tattoo's" Kawakami muttered "I'm gonna have to go with that option".

The group seemed spilt on this one, Kaoru and Takemi were the only one's to deduct the right answer, that Iwai had indeed murdered people in his time.

"Dad, you really did!?" Kaoru asked, he knew his father was Yakuza, but he didn't know it was too this extent. In fact, there was a lot Kaoru still didn't know about his father. Yakuza seemed like an umbrella term to describe a gang of criminals. Kaoru (despite his smarts) had done little research behind what traditions and things they actually upheld and now he seemed more curious to find out.

"I did, but don't think of it as cold-blooded murder" Iwai said to reassure him "Don't think I'd confess that, with a public prosecutor right there" he said, pointing back at where Judge continued to sleep "Those that had to die were brought before us, they tried to sell us out, or had even committed crimes we couldn't agree with. The three I killed were rapists and had murdered numerous people, it fell to me to execute them".

"Execute, a gang thing then?" Kawakami asked "Still, the fact these people were awful human beings who raped and murdered numerous others... it doesn't make what you did right, but it makes me feel a little better around you..."

"I got it teacher, I'm a shitty person" Iwai snarled "Just thought you ought to know, in case we do end up running into shadows or that damned Akechi again, that I will not hesistate to shoot".

"You didn't hesitate before" Kaoru pointed out "But still, Dad... I... I..."

"I know it's a shitty thing to hear Kaoru, I thought if you knew I was Yakuza that you'd already figured it out" Iwai said "It'd be understandable if you think less of me now..."

"No I get it" Kaoru said "You were in a gang back then. You probably didn't want to do it, but had no choice".

Iwai smiled at him.

"Knew you were smart enough to deduce it" he mused "They were always lookin' out for softies in the gang I was in, figured I was one and made me step up my game. Or else they've had tossed me from the clan altogether, they'd have killed me, or let me starve on the streets"

"You should have been arrested" Kawakami noted "You must have built up money while you were in the clan, plus what gang has the morale high ground to kill admittedly awful people, but then try and kill someone for simply trying to leave, or refusing their damn orders?"

Iwai shrugged.

"Even I had a line back then, it's why I eventually ended up leavin' that particular gang and meetin' my sworn brother Tsuda" Iwai said "Some branches of Yakuza stick to the old code, although most of it these days, or simple thugs runnin' around pretendin' to uphold that honour. One guy known as the cleaner, used to be the worst of the bunch. He killed God knows how many people and this guy really did have loads of tattoo's as well, scared me, even". Iwai admitted.

"God, here I was thinking a teacher handing out 1,000 yen was illegal, now I get this" Kawakami recalled "Jeez, I'm not sure I want to know anymore..."

"Yeah, I really set this convo on a downer, didn't I?" Iwai said "Ah well, no point hidin' it, if this palace really is that dangerous, might as well be honest with everyone".

"I can understand that" Takemi said "Now let me start join in with this, well I once I was so sick when I was kid, that the dinner I had eaten before, all came rushing back up, and I ate the regurtated carrots and chips. I also used this choker around my neck, to pleasure mys...!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Kawakami exclaimed, her face as white as chalk "I'm gonna help Noir and Fox now..." and nearly tripping on her own feet, she rushed out of the room, leaving Takemi and Hifumi smiling at her back, before they both burst out laughing.

"I think our dear teacher, may be a murdering Yakuza member and has done some naughty things as well" Takemi said slyly "I mean why else is she running? She clearly has something to hide".

Hifumi allowed herself to stop laughing, as she looked at the company around her, a disgraced doctor, a murdering Yakuza member and his son... she was meant to be an innocent and pristine Shogi champion. Her mother would more likely see her dead than in company like this, yet despite these confessions, she felt comfortable around this strange group of companions. As odd as it seemed and despite everything she had heard, she found she couldn't hate these guys.

"This is awful, truly" she said, when her laughter had subsided "Yet, I can't believe none of this has fazed you at all" she said looking over at Kaoru who simply smiled.

"I've grown up with him" he said pointing to his father "I've heard him say way worse over the phone to random people".

"I thought I told you to go to bed on those occasions" Iwai snapped.

Kaoru shrugged.

"What? You were loud" was his only excuse.

"Despite your previous crimes, taking in Kaoru here and raising him means you cannot be a bad person" Hifumi noted "Tell me, how exactly did you find him?"

"That's a story for another time" Iwai said "Now I'm curious, Miss Doctor, which one of those statements was true?"

"Which one? Sorry I forgot what I said..."

"Bullshit"

"But what about you Miss Shogi prodigy?" Takemi asked, quickly switching attention back to Hifumi "What have you got to confess to us?"

"Oh, I can't believe I'm actually saying this. But I'm going to disappoint you" Hifumi admitted "I doubt my life have been as... colourful as yours..."

* * *

"ROBIN HOOD!"

The arrow pierced through the shadows as they dissolved into useless heaps on the ground behind him, yet no matter how many arrows he fired, the shadows kept on coming, he thought he could lose them if he ran through the endless twists and turns of the cabin corridors, but the damn things were persistent. If it wasn't for that bitch Sae, he'd have killed her stupid sister and had the upper hand. Not forced to flee straight into the lobby, attracting all the shadows towards him. He was already exhausted from the previous fight, he didn't know how much more of this he could really take. The shadows weren't strong, but they were draining his energy and he couldn't find a safe-room anywhere.

This hadn't gone to plan at all, he cursed himself at his own stupid mistake of forgetting Niijima wasn't under any of his persona's skills. He assumed she'd simply fallen unconscious due to her being so close to the blast, but he'd been proven wrong...

He sighed, he wouldn't be able to continue like this.

"FUCK!" He roared, he'd have to get back to the front deck and then leave the palace. Forced to confront his loathsome father once again and Shido would be disappointed in him...

But Akechi could always lie, he'd been doing that for a while now.

Yes, if Shido was going to meet his end soon, why keep on being honest with him? He could have told the bald man a fabricated tale, that he'd killed a few of them and the rest were on the run.

Half of them were probably dead from shadows now anyway, but he could rely on them to get those letters of recommendation for him. So he could ultimately kill his father's shadow and watch his mental shutdown, with great pleasure on his handsome face...

Akechi grinned.

Yes, that's how it would happen.

He could do this all alone, it seemed like having teammates was such a blessing for those pathetic, Phantom Thieves now. But in the long run, all they'd do was prove to be a liability and get themselves killed.

But so long as they had those letters, who was he too care?

and if they did awaken their powers like Sae had done.

Then he smiled to himself, as the shadows cornered him in this small corridor, for that moment and for now he had the answer.

Black flame exploded around him, his voice was high and shrill, when he screamed the name of his ultimate persona...

 _"LOKI!"_

* * *

"Got it!"

Ohya was beyond triumphant as she returned to the group, waving around a large pass in everyone's face.

Joker felt himself smile, turned out even the one's he thought were useless had their uses in this grand palace.

"Someone seriously dropped on and it was handed into one of the bar's!?" Skull inquired.

Ohya nodded.

"While you guys got pissed off at these rich shits, I did a little... snooping..." Ohya muttered, a devilish grin lining her features "Overhearing their conversations to see if I could get anything out of them. I overheard someone saying they'd dropped a restaurant pass, but I didn't think of it as important. But when Yoshida mentioned that about the restaurant, I knew I had to act".

"Nice going" Joker informed her.

"But, I thought the cognitive guests here would be a little smarter" Sojiro said, looking around him "I mean, why would they just drop passes like it's no one's business?"

"This is Shido's subconsiconus in a way, you can already see he thinks of most people as untrustworthy and dishonest" Mona explained "It seems like he almost made them incompetent as well"

"Which is good for us!" Ohya mused "So in a way, these people are shallow and stupid, only on this ship because of their looks and wealth and obidence to Shido".

"Exactly" Mona said "For a drunk, you are certainly make a good reporter".

"Why thanks and...HEY!" Ohya exclaimed "Do you get a kick, out of being such an ass!?"

"See, this is why I yell at it!" Skull exclaimed.

"It, is a he! Thank you very much!" Mona shouted back.

"Will this pass be enough to get us all in?" Nagisa asked, breaking through the argument between her own son and the talking cat.

"I don't know, we need that letter first though, so just in case we'll send someone forward into the resturtant to try and talk him into giving us the letter".

"Joker, this is my call" Yoshida said stepping up "I know Ooe best out of everyone here, I obtained the information to find him, if that pass only allows one person into the private restaurant, allow me to go forward. If things do go poorly, we'll have to attack him and take it by force, is that correct?"

Joker nodded.

"But let's try and avoid a fight if we can" he muttered.

"Okay then" Yoshida said "I will keep my personal feelings on the side for the sake of the mission"

"So... this is it, we're already one fifth of the way there!" Mishima mused happily.

"Not until we take this letter are we one fifth of the way through" Sojiro muttered, "Fut...Oracle. Should this go poorly, we're heading back to that safe room, understood?"

"Only if there's no chance, otherwise, hell no!" Oracle exclaimed back to him.

The group was geared up to go, Mishima's enthusiasm was bouncing off Joker and the leader of the Phantom Thieves couldn't help but smile at them all. They had all proved their usefulness. Ohya in gathering intel and the restaurant pass, Yoshida for getting information on Ooe's location, Chihaya in her fortunes saving Queen's life, Mishima's enthusaim was keeping them in high spirits, Sojiro and Nagisa weren't getting in the way and we keeping their sturdy eyes on their children and himself, Mona, Panther and Skull had dealt with shadows like they had always done.

But thanks to Akechi's failed ambush and Sae's awakening. Things had turned out... amazingly.

They knew where the treasure was straight away and how to get too it, barely an hour here and they were already on the cusp of being a fifth of the way through this ship in gaining the first letter. Judge would soon be back to full strength and they'd have another Phantom Thief ready to fight alongside them. They had only dealt with one shadow and one ambush so far and had all come out alive and healed from such encounters, everyone was armed, they had plenty of meds left, Sojiro's food was still intact to prevent them from getting tired and giving them an energy boost when they needed it.

It was almost going _too_ well.

"Chihaya, what did your card readings say, before we happen to go to meet Ooe?" Joker asked, just to ensure they were fine.

Chihaya shook her head.

"The others back at the safe room should be absolutely fine, their fate has stayed the same" she informed him "As for us, the readings are less clear, I'm definatly seeing a multi-headed snake in the future. It might be Ooe's shadow, so we'll have to be careful..."

"So we will end up fighting him?" Joker asked.

"Fate isn't absolute and can be changed, even with just a few words, like you proved to me" Chihaya said "But as for all of us, our fates are unclear. In short, I believe I was able to read about Priestess' misfortune, because Akechi had the intention to kill her and it happened moments before the attack itself. For Ooe, it seems like he could aim for anyone..."

"So in short, this could go anywhere" Joker concluded "Anything could happen?"

Chihaya nodded.

"Yes, I think it will fully depend on what happens while we're in that restaurant" Chihaya said, "Sorry, I couldn't be anymore useful"

"No, that's fine" Joker said "I understand, I want you, Sojiro, Nagisa, Mishima and Ohya to stay safe at the back" Joker instructed, "The rest of us will deal with Ooe if things go to shit. Yoshida..."

"I am aware of the risks, like I told you" Yoshida said with a steely determination "Take care of Ooe before you take care of me, if something should happen to me, then I won't accept one of you becoming a sacrificial lamb to save an old man like myself".

Joker looked at him.

"Are you sure?"

"I've never been so sure about something in my entire life" Yoshida muttered back to him.

"Very well, then. Everyone, let's do this!"

The 10 others behind him cheered, seemingly ready to take on the snake of a man they knew as Ooe, while Chihaya lingered at the rear of the group, wondering if she was right in keeping the truth to herself. She gulped and knew Joker shared her view that things were going a little bit "too well" at the moment and if there were any signs of death and misfortune, she'd tell Joker right away. She had been completely honest with him in that regard, everyone's fate was in the air.

But she didn't want everyone getting overconfident.

She didn't want _him_ getting overconfident, if he knew what the readings really pointed too, it may have changed fate.

But looking at Yoshida's back and looking back at this Sun card, the readings only pointed too one thing.

An awakening in the near future, regardless of whatever else happened.

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, thanks everyone for reviewing, chapters may come a little slower now as I don't want to give myself burnout and a few of your reviews noticed I update pretty fast, most of these chapters were pre-written anyway, but from this point forward I still need to write the rest, so I'll try not to be too long with updates and I hope you continue to enjoy this fic! I'm a bit lazy today to answer all reviews but will get back to you all next chapter and if you have any burning questions feel free to PM me!**


	7. Fall From Grace

_"PLEASE, CONSIDER WHAT I HAVE TO SAY...!"_

 _"GET OUT OF HERE, NO GOOD TORA!"_

 _"WE WANT A STRONG LEADER!"_

 _"WHY DON'T YOU JUST RETIRE ALREADY!?"_

 _The same insults, the same sentences, repeated over and over again, drowning out his points of interest and designed to break his spirit down, yet Yoshida managed to finish his speech, thanked the ungrateful crowd before him and set to packing his things away, when a cough caught his attention._

 _"Toranosuke Yoshida" came a cool voice._

 _Yoshida swivelled around on his heel, it was rare of anyone to call him by his full name, usually it was No-Good Tora, or just Yoshida if people were feeling generous. But right now it seemed as if someone was trying to get his attention, he looked at the bland looking politician in front of him._

 _"Oh, it's you Ooe" he said without too much love in his tone._

 _Ooe smiled back at him, although it seemed more like a leer than anything else._

 _"My... my..." he mused, pacing around Yoshida and inspecting every element of his dishevelled hair and tatty business suit "How the mighty have fallen"_

 _"Have you got any business here!?" Yoshida snapped at him, it wasn't like the usually peaceful man to start to lose his cool, but today had been a speech that worn down his patience. The crowd were particularly rude and flinging around the disgraced nickname that Ooe had given him, hardly helped matters._

 _"Just wondering when you'll take my advice to heart and quit this stupidity" Ooe snapped at him, hostility on full display._

 _"You saying that, only strengthens my resolve" Yoshida muttered._

 _"It's becoming sad to watch" Ooe said, "Pitiful really..."_

 _"I'm in no mood for your gloating Ooe, how many years have you been doing this now? Dare I say, you need a better hobby"._

 _"I'm just looking out for an old friend" Ooe informed him "The sooner you quit the more grateful everyone will be, me in particular"._

 _Yoshida ignored him, he'd heard this so many times now it had lost all meaning._

 _"Yoshida"_

 _Continued silence._

 _"You know...Aokigahara seems like a great place for men like you, single, in their 40's, no wife or kids, no stable income, crappy apartment..."_

 _"What are you trying to say?" Yoshida said, looking up at him, his heart thumping in his ears and his hands balling into fists._

 _"What I'm trying to say..." Ooe replied, leaning in closer to Yoshida's face._

 _"...Is to get lost and don't come back"_

 _THUMP._

Thump!

"Shadow down!"

Yoshida blinked rapidly and was dragged back into the present day, the monstrosity that had emerged from yet another shadow that was guarding the entrance to the restaurant had been quickly taken care of by Joker and the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Oracle was already collecting the money (a measly 76 yen) which wouldn't serve them much good but was nice to have nevertheless.

"You alright?" came a voice to his left, he turned to see that fortune teller, Chihaya was gazing at him.

"Fine, but thanks for your concern" Yoshida muttered, his thin smile back in place. She seemed to be looking over at him in particular, granted they had met on the backstreets and both of them were awful in trying to find LeBlanc off his own phone. He had tried to use a marker thing to point them in the direction of the café, but he was going around in circles. When she noticed he was lost (and a part of the meeting) the kindly woman had attempted to help him, but she seemed just as helpless at operating the phone than he had done. Judging by her accent, he could very easily guess she was from the country and not used to the most up to date technology either, from the start these two in particular, seemed to be looking at for one another.

Yoshida could easily see her as the daughter he never had.

"So... one pass here" Ohya muttered once the yen was collected and the shadow gone completely, stepping up to the (once again) golden doors that signalled the entrance to the restaurant, "Shall we go in and check where it will get us?"

There was a collective nod at this, Yoshida gulped.

"Ooe, I'm coming for you" he thought to himself, as Ohya opened the door.

* * *

The silent ambience and faint-chit chatter of this long corridor was a stark difference from the lobby.

Shido's voice from those megaphones couldn't be heard here, it had become nothing but background noise to the members of the Phantom Thieves. Yet now here they stood, able to hear their rustling of their own clothes, or every footstep they took against the patterned carpet on the ground, Proceeding forwards slowly, towards an opening at the end of the corridor, where the restaurant must have lay beyond, Ohya dropped the pass next to a well-dressed man behind a counter.

"So... we have a pass here... is that entry for only one person?" she asked timidly.

"Erm... yes, those are the rules" the man responded.

"Okay then" Ohya muttered, before she turned back to the group, "Now what!?" she hissed at them.

"It's obvious isn't it?" Yoshida felt himself saying "I agreed to go in there, I'll get the letter of recommendation from Ooe"

Joker's eyes met his own.

"For the last time, are you sure about this?"

Yoshida nodded.

"Okay then, Yoshida, we're relying on you now".

Ignoring the pressure that sentence brought with it, the politician took the pass from Ohya's fingers and marched to the man on the desk.

"Yes, sorry about her" he muttered, referencing Ohya "She gets excited, wanted entry... but yes this pass is mine. I'm here to see Politician Ooe, I have a matter I'd like to discuss with him".

"Ooe, oh yes he should be in there right now!" the man said happily _"So he's beloved by those on the ship, no surprise there"_ Yoshida thought cynically to himself, yet he forced himself to smile as he said "Ah, that's great then, I'll head on right through..." as he did, he took one last look back at the group behind him.

"We'll hang around, any sign of trouble. We'll come straight in" Joker assured him.

Smiling, Yoshida put one foot in front of the other and entered the restaurant.

* * *

 _"...So I said, you're an idiot!" Yoshida laughed, his young colleagues laughing alongside him as they dined in this fancy restaurant "I mean, honestly. What else could I do? The man didn't understand the political process at all"._

 _"The public are so ungrateful" his colleague said, nodding his head at him "Why bother serving them? I mean honestly, they're never satisfied and take out all the abuse on us! Well, I personally feel we deserve all the luxuries we get for putting up with that crap"._

 _"Absolutely" Yoshida agreed._

 _"Let's face it, we're not here to serve the public. Fame and wealth are what we're here for, am I right men?" a more senior colleague informed them all, as they laughed, continued to drink from the glasses they had in front of them and joke to one another, as the older man continued on, his face becoming redder by the minute._

 _"Just wait gents, soon you'll have all the drinks and ladies you could ever want!" he exclaimed, (casting some nasty glances from the other tables). "Especially you, Yoshida"_

 _"Me!" Yoshida chuckled, being 22 years of age, in great shape and a full head of gleaming black hair, he was already popular with the ladies, he didn't need to be told that twice._

 _"and man, I wish I could give those speeches like you do!" another colleague exclaimed at him "I don't know how you pull out all the crap about... oh! the young people of this country...oh! I care so much about them..."_

 _"Now, now gentlemen, not every word is a lie" Yoshida said, calming down slightly "But I'll say whatever I need too, in order for re-election, and to carry on drinking with you fine gentlemen of course"_

 _There was a resounding cheer at this, it wasn't until later when Yoshida needed to go to the restrooms to relieve himself, that he noticed a fairly young man, who had to be about his age, or slightly younger, watching him._

 _That was the very first time he had seen Ooe._

* * *

This was the exact same restaurant he had been at all those years ago, or at least a well-copied congintive version of his favourite floor of the place, which must have also been a favourite of Shido and Ooe's, except rather than the Tokyo skyline, he instead was looking out at the unnatural pinkish-red sky of this palace, an elevated area was in the centre of the restaurant with a microphone at the ready. This was usually where people made announcements or did some drunken karaoke when things got too rowdy. Yet the homely atmosphere this place once had was lost here, everything seemed stuffy, even more so than it was in the main lobby.

"Of course it would be" Yoshida muttered to himself "The people in here have those passes, so they think they're even higher than those insufferable snobs in the lobby".

Bowing his head he took steps across the spotless carpet beneath his feet.

He could hear the whispers already, but he tuned them out because directly in front of him, he could make out the slick back hair and imposing shoulders of Ooe, who was sat at a round table in front of him, speaking about something that bored even Yoshida.

"...that's why, such financial measures are needed" Ooe was explaining to his equally as dull looking colleagues "Without them things certainly won't..."

"Erm... excuse me"

Ooe turned to face Yoshida, the second their eyes connected Ooe (who had a mask on, that was as black as his eyes and hair), his face scrunched in distaste, his eyes narrowing considerably.

"No-Good Tora" he said predictably "How on earth was someone like you, granted entry into this restaurant?"

"I went and begged for a pass" Yoshida lied easily "Because I knew I had to see you"

"See me!?" Ooe snapped, confused now. Yoshida had gone into this without any solid plan, but being a politician he knew how to make things up on the spot and right now he simply knew what he had to do. Ooe had a big ego, stroking that ego would prove beneficial in order to grant that letter.

"Forgive me!" Yoshida suddenly begged, pretending to sob, as he collapsed to the floor and bowed at the soles of Ooe's polished boots "I WAS A FOOL!" He exclaimed in mock hurt, his voice somewhat muffled into the carpet, but was loud enough to draw disapproving eyes.

"Y-yoshida!" he muttered, getting to his feet.

"HOW COULD I EVER COMPETE WITH SOMEONE LIKE YOU!" Yoshida pretended to howl "I WAS SO STUPID... I... ADMIRED YOU ALL THIS TIME OOE! I WANTED TO CONTINUE SERVING, SO I COULD SERVE ALONGSIDE YOU! YOU KNEW WHAT WAS BEST FOR THE ECOMONY AND I NEVER LISTENED!"

"Shut him up! Have security kick him out! He is causing a scene!" Yoshida heard one of Ooe's allies, tell him harshly.

But Ooe simply shook his head.

Yoshida felt himself grin, yes. Ooe certainly loved praise.

"I want... I want my friends and my family... to see Shido, just once so they can be influenced by the country you've helped to build together" Yoshida said, pretending to wipe away fake tears, as he looked up at Ooe "Won't you please grant them, just one letter of recommendation"

"I can't just be giving stuff like that away!" Ooe snapped down at him "You think you're in any position to see Shido! You had your chance and you messed it up!"

"I know... I know..." Yoshida said softly, getting to his feet "I've made such a mess of my life, by disagreeing with you and Shido and your policies, it was complete folly to try and oppose you".

"It certainly was" Ooe agreed.

"But this isn't about me, I have no intention of seeing Shido, I just want them, the people I care about to see him" Yoshida said "I couldn't bear the shame of seeing him again... it would be too much..."

Ooe sighed.

"Very well then" he snapped, he pulled out a white envelope from his suit and Yoshida felt his heart almost stop, he'd done it. Somehow he managed to convince Ooe to give him the letter, he reached out his hand, expecting a trick, expecting it to be pulled away from him. Expecting a shadow or any other threat in those moments.

Instead, Yoshida's hand clamped around the letter and he held it too his chest.

That... that was easy.

"Why... thank you" he said gratefully to Ooe.

"Now, just go" he snapped.

Yoshida made way for the exit, he saw the other Phantom Thieves standing there with smiles on their faces as he waved back at them. No bloodshed, no deaths... nothing. He had done...

Suddenly, two guards came into view blocking his exit.

"Yoshida, where do you think you're going?"

The politician turned to see it was Ooe was who glaring at him.

"I said... well you said I could go..." Yoshida muttered, feeling very small in those moments.

"Yes I did" Ooe muttered "You also said you were a fool for disagreeing with me and you had no intention of meeting Shido".

Yoshida gulped.

"That... that was correct"

"Then hand over your letter to wherever your friends are sat and show that you really mean, what you say!" Ooe snapped, a dangerous tension now present in the air.

"E-e-excuse me?" Yoshida stuttered, wishing his heart wasn't beating so loudly in his ears, wishing his legs weren't shaking in this manner.

"Give your letter to your friends and then show you've repented" Ooe snapped, taking a few strides towards the disgraced politician "Do you remember my suggestion, about men like you being welcome in Aokigahara forest? and for that you assaulted me?

Yoshida couldn't speak, the room had gone deadly quiet now, the guests didn't move. All of them were looking directly at him.

His palms started to sweat.

"My, my. I think we'd all like to see it" Ooe said, but his voice was echoey, it was then Yoshida realised (with a horrified gasp) everyone else was speaking with him, in sync to a tic.

"Pass that letter over to your friends and then end it!" Ooe and the others roared at him.

Yoshida looked around wildly, the exit was blocked by two shadows that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere, a few of the cognitive guests realised something was going on and had ran to a nearby elevator to escape the brewing situation. But almost everyone else was aligned with Ooe here, as if he was leading them all, controlling them all...

"M-my friends aren't in here..." Yoshida muttered quietly.

"WHAT!?" The exclamation was so loud, it was like a cannon blast had gone off.

"There... they are not..." Yoshida nearly whispered.

"YOU EXPECT ME TO HAND OUT THAT LETTER, WHEN YOUR SO-CALLED FRIENDS DON'T EVEN HAVE ACCESS TO THIS RESTURANT!? I ASSUMED THEY HAD! YOU ARE A DIRTY LIAR TORANOSUKE YOSHIDA! RETURN MY LETTER!"

"N-n-NO!" Yoshida spat back at him defiantly.

"WHY COULDN'T YOU JUST DISSAPPEAR LIKE THE REST!?" Ooe was screaming "I WAS TEMPTED TO CALL A HIT ON YOU SO MANY TIMES, BUT APPARENTLY YOU WERE SO PATHETIC YOU WEREN'T WORTH THE TROUBLE! BUT I ALWAYS KNEW YOU HAD TO BE DISPOSED, LIKE THE TRANSPORT MINISTER, OR THE...!"

"It was you!" Yoshida exclaimed in disbelief, understanding it all then and there "You... You ordered that Akechi... to go into the palaces of public figures and have them killed, just so the old Government could collapse and you and Shido could set up a new one... but why!?" Yoshida inquired.

"I GET PROMOTED, I SUPPORT SHIDO WE'LL BE ALLIES IN A NEW WORLD, A NEW JAPAN!" Ooe answered "A JAPAN, WHERE THE WEAK WILL BE ANNIHALTED, WHERE THE STRONG WILL SURVIVE! THE NATION WILL PROSPER!"

"HOW COULD YOU COMMITT SUCH AROTICIES AND SLEEP AT NIGHT, HOW CAN YOU LIE TO THE PEOPLE WHO TRUST YOU! THE PEOPLE YOU WERE SWORN TO SERVE!?" Yoshida was now screaming back.

Ooe glared at him and looked Yoshida straight in the eyes when giving his response.

 _"I'll say whatever I need too, in order for re-election"_

Yoshida felt his world stop.

"THIS RESTURANT IS MINE! MY OWN LITTLE... PALACE!" Ooe roared, as he did the Phantom thieves themselves tore through the shadows behind Yoshida, they transformed into those strange monsters that were quickly dealt with by Joker and the others, before Yoshida knew what had happened he was stood line in line with the four persona users.

"THAT'S ENOUGH ASSHOLE!" Skull roared at him, "WE'RE TAKING OUR LETTER AND OUR BUDDY HERE WITH US!"

"PHANTOM THIEVES, I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!" Ooe bellowed in reply "HOW FOOLISH I WAS YOSHIDA, TO LISTEN TO YOU! I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN YOU WERE LYING...!"

"Joker..." Panther muttered nervously, she could see the doors behind them were now blocked completely by a wall of concentrate that had seemingly appeared from thin air, Joker didn't need Panther to tell him this. He knew the fight was upcoming, however it looked like the others without Persona's had also been caught in the crossfire, as the wall had appeared just behind where they were all standing near the entrance.

"Shit..." Sojiro hissed.

"Hang on, did you say something about this place being your own palace!?" Mona exclaimed over at Ooe, as black flames started to engulf him.

"That's correct!" Ooe said, calmer now and more sinister as his now yellow eyes locked upon the cat "I know about the cognitive world through Shido... granted you won't be stealing my heart..."

"Wait, what the hell?!" Panther inquired "Are you telling me, we're in a palace, inside of a palace!?"

"No way, for real!?" Skull said, gazing at Mona.

"I've never seen anything like this!" Mona said, his voice high in fear and confusion "Five letters of recommendation, Shido has really prepared for this, we can't just grab these letters anymore, he's protected his own shadow and his own treasure by forming five close bonds... five palaces".

Joker felt his stomach turn to lead.

Five palaces, within another palace.

"How is that even possible!?" Oracle inquired.

"How'd you think?" Ooe asked of her.

"My... Mum's research!" Oracle exclaimed in a shocked understanding "You stole that, manipulated it and made this... this..." she paused there, unable to continue.

"You BASTARDS!" Sojiro suddenly roared on her behalf, taking a dangerous step forward "You not only stole Wakaba's research but you used it too protect yourselves...!"

"But this can't happen!" Mona said "It's not possible, no way in hell! The only shared palace is Mementos..."

"Then... from what you told us about Mementos" Ohya said, "It connects shadows because of the public's collective subconscious, but Shido has become part of the public subconscious now he's that popular. But Ooe and the four others are so caught up in his conspiracy that their own distorted desires and palaces have connected to Shido's own, as it's their shared desire to see the new Japan".

"I don't know what you just said, but somehow it made sense" Mona muttered "That must be it and Wakaba's research allowed them to gain the upper hand on us on how palaces actually work and..."

"It's more than even that!" Ohya continued "If we kill Ooe here or make him have a change of heart, Shido will know. Because it will affect them in the real world..."

"Then Shido will know how far we are into his own palace!" Mona exclaimed "If Akechi was able to get into this place, then he'll have told Shido all about it and If Shido himself knows how far we are into his palace, once the fifth letter bearer has a change of heart or dies, he'll do something drastic...!"

"So he was policing his own palace with other palaces!" Sojiro exclaimed "The petty bastard!"

"HEY!" Panther exclaimed to Ooe "YOU KNOW FULL WELL THAT SHIDO'S JUST USING YOU! DON'T YOU!?"

"There's nowhere to have a safer palace than this!" Ooe exclaimed back "Besides, should I fall, Shido falls too! and if I succeeded, Shido will be triumphant as well! Our fates our tied".

"Dude, there are like four other guys who have letters as well" Skull pointed out.

"That's a fabrication!" Ooe shouted "Only my letter has any merit"

"For real!" Skull said, repeating his favourite phrase "Does that mean we hit the jackpot here!?"

"No, I don't think so" Nagisa said, speaking up "Son, we've noticed how rude, incompetent and horrible the people on this ship are. Shido thinks they're hiding their true selves, so his hid something from them as well, he must have told each of the four letter holders only their letter mattered, in order to gain their trust".

"THAT'S A LIE!" Ooe bellowed at her.

"THAT'S THE TRUTH!" Panther roared back "YOU'VE BEEN PLAYED BY SHIDO, JUST LIKE EVERYBODY ELSE!"

"I refuse to accept that!" Ooe snarled "You, Yoshida... everyone is a liar! Nobody can be trusted! Shido's the only one who saw my value! My hard work! Our goals are aligned, he trusts me far more than anybody else..."

"That's all a lie" Mona said to Joker "Look around Joker, this maybe a palace, but it's tiny compared to others. It's a single room, Shido wanted their palaces in his own, but they couldn't be more grand than his. Shido himself is the mastermind, Ooe here is merely a sidekick".

"So basically, Ooe here is like a mini-boss, before the big baddie?" Oracle asked, overhearing this.

Mona nodded.

"I AM SHIDO'S RIGHT HAND MAN!" Ooe roared "ENOUGH OF THIS SHIT! YOU WON'T LEAVE THIS ROOM ALIVE...!"

"Joker, we can't kill him or take his treasure!" Mona exclaimed, as the form of Ooe began to deform into a black sludge "Otherwise Shido will know! That's not just some Cognition that Shido has envisioned, it's Ooe's real shadow! Residing in his own palace! Remember what people back in the lobby said? He is always here...and now it makes sense".

"What'd we do Joker!?" Skull inquired, watching Ooe's shadow begin to form.

"I have an idea" Joker said calmly, the idea springing into his mind "First we have to subdue him, but we can't kill him, everyone do as we always do".

"Hell yeah, let's kick some ass!" Ryuji exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear.

"BRING IT!" Mona roared at Ooe.

"We're ready for you!" Panther bellowed.

"Everyone else, get back! We got this!" Oracle mused, as Ooe's shadow formed.

Everyone else, standing in a trance alongside Ooe, melted into a black sludge as well, but this sludge slid across the floor and joined up with the bubbling, black mass that was once Ooe, from this mass, distorted shapes became to emerge, a tangle of vein shaped shadows shot up, nearly hitting the roof of the restaurant, as the shadow took shape.

"That's it! The multi-headed snake!" Chihaya yelled.

The snake must have had around 12 heads at least, each head came with poisonous yellow eyes and sharpened fangs, their combined bodies below were a mess of twisted green limbs, the snakes themselves hissed dangerously at where the Phantom Thieves were stood. It was then Joker had noticed that Yoshida was directly in harm's way, he hadn't moved a muscle or said a word for a while now.

"YOSHIDA, MOVE!" Joker roared.

Too little, too late.

Yoshida was still in his trance, unable to believe... unable to believe it, when the snake's head whipped down, fangs filled with venom...

"ARRGGGHHHHHH!"

He roared in pain as the fangs sunk into his shoulder, cutting through his clothes, the poison within was felt instantly, he felt like his body was on fire, before he had time to move, or even struggle, the snake had tossed him into the air and he landed on the elevated platform, with a bleeding shoulder, more broken ribs and barely able to breathe, with blood covering his eyes, he heard the snake hiss once again, as the Phantom Thieves sprang to life, a bolt of electricity signalled the fight's beginning.

But Yoshida found himself unable to care.

He'd been poisoned, he was in agony, he'd die soon. Here on this stage...

How fitting for him.

He noticed that he was... glowing slightly. This wasn't a trick of his impaired eyesight, he knew why this was happening, he knew why it was fitting for him to die like this.

The man he had filled with this venom and hatred.

The man he had shaped into being a snake.

Palaces were born from a person's extremely distorted desires, it would make sense that this palace would take the form of that restaurant.

and that Yoshida himself realised...

"I'm the source of his distorted desires"

"I'm the _treasure"_

That's why he was glowing now, in this palace he was the source of the distorted desire. Before Shido, before anything else, it all boiled down to him.

He looked up to see a noose hanging above him.

"This is he what he meant, he wants me to do this" Yoshida thought miserably, looking up at noose.

 _"He really hates me"_

* * *

 _Yoshida was stunned._

 _His usually white gloved hands were stained red, the rage that had overcome him in those moments was gone, but he was still panting heavily as he looked down at where he had punched Ooe, the politician was cowering on the ground, his face coated in blood._

 _Yoshida should have panicked, he should have felt an ice cold sense of regret and what he'd just done, people were staring now and pointing as Ooe got to his feet, but Yoshida felt nothing... nothing at all, as Ooe wiped his bloody face, Yoshida could hear what he was going to say next._

 _"Just wait, I'll sue for this No-Good Tora! Then you really won't be anything...!"_

 _He was waiting for that exact sentence._

 _"and to think, I once admired you"_

 _Yoshida blinked._

 _Had he heard that correctly? No mention of being sued for assault, their were eyewitnesses everywhere, this was Ooe's chance, his moment to take his foe down once and for all._

 _Why hadn't he taken it?_

 _"Just stop this, Yoshida" Ooe said, before sulking off without another word and it was then Yoshida felt shame, it was then he turned back into his nervous, bumbling self, but since then Ooe had continued to berate him as usual, never mentioning the time Yoshida had lost his cool and assaulted him in the middle of a crowded street._

 _He tried to have me killed by Akechi's hand._

 _He continued to insult me._

 _He wants me gone, he wants me dead._

 _He had the perfect chance to bring me to ruin on that day._

 _Why didn't he?_

* * *

Yoshida felt he finally had the answer to that question.

Ooe had admired him once, sparing Yoshida on that day wasn't out of kindness, because it was likely Yoshida would simply be sent to prison by Ooe's admission and the eyewitness accounts.

But then Ooe couldn't see him suffer.

He wouldn't be able to see Yoshida destroy himself, which (judging by this noose) is what Ooe really wanted.

The battle was raging a world away, but what could Yoshida do?

 _"Believe in yourself, self-pity won't get us anywhere, not anymore..."_

* * *

 **A/N: So yeah you've probably realised that the things have diverged from canon at this point, I did mention Shido's palace was going to be harder to infiltrate than it was previously, anyway next chapter will see an awakening and I had a hell of a lot of fun writing this one and the next one so hope you guys enjoyed it! Now onto answering reviews.**

 **Guest- I like the sound of Lady Luck for Chihaya and yes I can confirm that some persona users aren't going to fight directly like the main cast but we'll see some more like Futaba who have more of a support role.**

 **Ford114- Haven't seen episode 26 yet and will have to check it out, glad he got some love in the anime though as he felt underused and underrated in the game.**

 **Ulrich362- Glad you're loving it and you were correct in saying this won't be straightforward, not at all. Next chapter is when everything shit really hits the fan, but I won't spoil much more for you, just be prepared.**

 **Shadow of a queen- Thanks for your review once again, expect more character interactions in the future, the one about Ryuji, Ann and Nagisa was a blast to write about . As for Yoshida you are right that he is too hard on himself, as the ending of this chapter indicates that maybe about to come to an end, but I also wanted to show how much of an idiot Yoshida once was and how he's changed. Ohya will be given plenty to do and many sarky lines are incoming from her.**

 **With Iwai and the others I didn't want to forget about them, as we know a lot about Fox, Noir, Queen and Judge already I wanted the others to get to know each other better. Iwai and Kaoru are the most fun to write about, then probably Takemi as there is a lot in store for her. Hifumi I find a bit bland, but rest assured she'll have her moment in the spotlight too, (eventually) all in all glad you're liking it. Becky or Kawakami at the minute is serving as a bit of comic relief but as the palace goes on and things get more grim, she'll have to step up her game, but I'll say no more on that.**

 **Anyway thanks again everyone for reading!**


	8. Turning Point

"Well, well, well, disobeying me Akechi!?"

Akechi stood there, dripping with sweat and caked with his own blood, in his tattered clothes, with his shoulder length hair dangling around his face, it made him look completely deranged. It was a stark contrast to the dignified and pristine looking Shido himself who sat there, in his spotless office, scowling at his own flesh and blood.

"I'm sorry" Akechi forced himself to say "I got too eager and raced on ahead... but I can confirm it with you. They are all in your palace".

"I fucking knew it" Shido snapped "Thanks to your absence I had to send a team to deal with our new SIU director, he spoke to me on the phone, while fucking Sae Niijima was outside the door, incompetent fools, seems like I can't trust anybody lately!"

"You never trusted anyone, period" Akechi thought to himself darkly, the mask wearing, fickle, cognitions of people on that ship, proved that much.

Yet Akechi put on his smiling face mask, as he simply replied...

"I know, it can be quite a bother"

"Anyway, tell me you killed a few of them!" Shido snapped at him "You didn't get those bruises from nowhere, right!?"

"Yes, I made clean work of Sae Niijima and a few of the rookies they had with them" Akechi said, lying causally and not wanting to ponder back on his embarrassing defeat, "But the others are stronger than I anticipated, but don't worry. Your palace is well-protected and the shadows and the letter holders should take care of some of the others".

"I know the five people who hold these... letters" Shido muttered "and I'll be able to tell if anyone of them change, after all there's no other way for them to obtain the letters other than killing them or making them go soft, if they go soft they'll be killed on my orders anyway".

"It's a win, win either way" Akechi said "Either they die to the Phantom Thieves, or they die to you. Or they win and can live".

"Yes, I consider it the ultimate test of loyalty to me, those who can't achieve that deserve to die" Shido mused "At this rate, my palace is impossible to infiltrate and stealing my heart? What a joke, before that could happen, I have more tricks up my sleeve"

"Indeed" Akechi agreed "I will rest on this and return to the palace in due course".

"You do that" Shido muttered "But before you do, I want you to take something into the palace with you"

"Something?" Akechi muttered, not liking the way Shido was smiling now.

"Let's just say... they forgot some people" Shido said barely able to contain his excitement, "You'll understand in due course, but I want you to take something along to them, or those that remain, for... demoralisation shall we say?"

"Sounds... interesting, I hope this didn't cause too much trouble" Akechi muttered.

"None at all" Shido replied "Now, hurry up and recover, I want to put this matter to bed, the election is in a few days, I want everything cleared by then, understood!?"

Akechi nodded, before he departed the office.

"Without so much as a thank you, father" he muttered bitterly to himself.

Meanwhile Shido watched Akechi leave, after the election he'd be cleared up as well.

His palace was going to be fine, he'd be the one to lead Japan, that's all there was too it. He had played this game as smart and as safely as he could, eliminating anyone who could have possibly been a link to him, or the Phantom Thieves themselves. Yet, there was that lingering matter, the one who had escaped, his task force had returned after dealing with that SIU director and several others, only to tell him that one of them had escaped...

Shido wanted him dead, it didn't matter how old he was.

He looked at the name on the file once again.

 _Shinya Oda..._

* * *

"SETH!"

Joker roared this, as the black dragon spewed a ball of energy at the snake which barely even reacted to the hit, instead many of it's heads were focused on different members of the group, without warning, four heads charged forward at once, each of them aiming at the four main fighters. Joker barely managed to block the one that soared towards him, Panther fired a ball of fire at the last second, saving her a horrible poisoning, Mona however was flung back, the fangs have penetrated his stomach, leaving trails of blood on his fur, as he groaned and clutched the injured area, Skull had managed to use his spiky bat to lay a dent the head aiming for him.

"DIA!" Panther said, almost instantly, a wave of relief came over Mona.

"Thanks, you're so gorgeous Pant..." He began drearily.

"NOT THE TIME MONA!" Skull bellowed, wiping a sheen of sweat from his forehead, he had been hitting the snake with all his force, yet the snake continued to attack them, barely showing any signs of weakness.

"We can't keep on like this!" Panther exclaimed, "It's too damn strong!"

Joker knew this, he was the leader here and had to think of a quick strategy to ensure their victory.

"Oracle! Have you found it's weakness yet!?" he inquired, managing to dodge yet another head that was aimed directly at him.

"Hang on! Scan almost complete!" Oracle yelled back, "Okay... okay... GOT IT!" She suddenly exclaimed "Joker, it's weak to Psychokinetic attacks!"

"Oh great, first Fox and now Noir, I should have brought them along" Joker growled, but he couldn't exactly leave and call for the Beauty Thief, they'd have to play around this, he summoned his multi headed persona once again.

"HECATONCHEIRES!" he bellowed, as he devised a plan of action.

"SKULL! MONA! DISTRACT IT!" He ordered "TWO OF THE HEADS WILL COME FOR YOU AND THEN...!"

"WE'LL HELP TOO JOKER, TAKE IT DOWN WHILE WE GET IT'S ATTENTION!"

Joker whipped around and wanted to scream "NO!" but it was too late, Mishima had already ran directly onto the battlefield, as a hungry head turned in his direction and prepared to strike, before it could, Ohya herself had leapt out in the opposite direction, another head turned her way, Joker had seconds to react.

"PSY!"

It hit the head that was targeting Mishima, it fell back with such a force, the one aiming for Ohya was thrown off balance, it ended up crashing into a wall, as the Journalist ducked, bits of debris and a cloud of dust engulfed her form.

"PSY!"

The already weakened head that hit the wall, made a jolt of pain and snake like hiss, two heads were down.

"MONA! NOW, GET RID OF THEM!" Joker bellowed.

Mona understood instantly, the nifty cat sprang through the air, cartwheeling and slicing his curved sword through the conjoined bodies and the damaged head, with a splattering and a final hiss of pain, the two detached heads dissolved into black sludge below the main body, however that wasn't the end of the attack. Because from the detached heads, a rancid smelling dark purple liquid squirted all over the restaurant, the second it hit Ohya and Mishima their skin began to bubble and melt on the spot, as they roared in pain.

"GET THEM OUT OF...!" Joker said to Skull, before he felt the wind get knocked out of him, one of the head's had barrelled into his body and a sharp pain in his arm told him, he'd been poisoned, the pain seemed to intensify in those moments...

BANG!

A hiss of pain, the snake's yellow eye burst, as Joker (coughing up blood and feeling his body burn) managed to gasp "PSY!" as the physic attack sent the head shooting backwards, Mona's quick sword removed another head, as more of the burning blood, burst from it's deformed body.

"You okay!?"

Looking behind him, Joker could see it was Sojiro who had stepped up and fired the gun he had been handed into the snake's head, nodding (and taking Sojiro's outstretched hand) he rose to his feet.

"DIA!"

The pain was gone, yet Joker could see it wasn't looking good.

Oracle had thought fast and had placed a shield between themselves and the snake, Skull had managed to drag Ohya and Mishima out of the madness, and although Panther's healing spells had repaired their skin, the blood loss had still happened. Both were pale and unconscious.

"The idiots!" Joker snarled, what they had done, had been brave. Stupid but brave.

But with two people already out cold, it was clear to see how powerful Ooe really was. Oracle wasn't that physically fit and Joker knew she couldn't keep this shield up for much longer, sure enough a pained squeak of "30 SECONDS, JOKER... THAT'S ALL I CAN MANAGE...!" from her, confirmed how much time he had.

Think. Think. Think!

Once the shield had gone, no matter how many heads they cut off, that liquid would turn them all into molten sludge, he knew one order he had to give.

"PANTHER! WHEN ORCALE SHIELD GOES, PUT ALL YOUR POWER INTO HEALING!" He commanded.

"GOT IT!" She replied, she was already doing this, but knew now it was essential.

That was an obvious answer though, 10 seconds had gone... he had 20 left...

It was then he remembered Yoshida, he turned just in time to see one of the loose stumps (which had nearly ran out of blood to spurt everywhere) flail wildly and smash into the roof above where the politician was slowly getting to his feet, he looked up, just as chunks of the ceiling to this restaurant fell on top of him.

"YOSHIDA!" He yelled, but he knew it was futile to try and save him now, as the politician disappeared under dust and rubble...

Dust and rubble.

10 seconds left...

An idea sprang in Joker's mind.

"MONA, ACT AS BAIT!" Joker ordered "MAKE THE HEADS AIM FOR THE ROOF! WE'LL USE THE COLLAPSING RUBBLE AS COVER!"

"NICE THINKING!" Mona bellowed back "Then what!?"

"WE'LL USE THE DUST CLOUD TO COVER OUR ATTACK!" Joker explained "THEN WE'LL HIT IT WITH EVERYTHING WE'VE GOT!" he turned towards Sojiro, Nagisa and Chihaya at this point, "YOU'LL LAY DOWN A SUPRESSING FIRE, UNDERSTOOD!?"

All their guns were drawn, they understood this straight away.

"We'll shoot!" Nagisa said, determination in her eyes.

Joker nodded, he was...

"TIME'S UP JOKER... ARRGGGHHHHHHH!" Oracle screamed, the last of her energy gone, as Promsethus vanished and the orange haired girl, fell to the ground, not moving a muscle, sapped of all energy.

"NOW!" Joker exclaimed.

Mona leapt into the air and predictably the heads dived straight at him, he was able to dodge the first three as they became lodged in the ceiling but the fourth caught him off guard, rather than bite him, it slammed him across the restaurant and the small cat was flung into a wall. Hitting it with such force it left a mini crater, the now unconscious cat fell to the ground.

"Shit" Joker snarled, but it had appeared the plan had worked, because as the heads dislodged themselves from the ceiling, they brought tons of rubble down with them, quickly retreating backwards as bits of stone and masonry crashed everywhere and a large dust cloud sprang up, making him cough and obscuring his vision, Joker knew he had to adapt fast, or they'd die.

"NOW SKULL!" He said, as himself and his friend charged forward, he was aware of himself using the Psychokinesis waves to weaken the heads, while Skull's bellows and the sound of his bat tearing through flesh indicated that by brute force alone, he was cutting through them, as he felt the pellets of red, hot blood land on his arm, he gave the order to regroup and he and Skull were able to shield themselves behind the wall of rubble that separated themselves and the snake.

"HOW MANY DID YOU GET!?" He asked of Skull.

"ABOUT TWO I THINK!" Skull replied, he looked exhausted and Joker could only wonder how much more of this he could put up with. Mishima and Ohya were currently next to them, shielded in the shadow of the rubble. While Sojiro was moving Oracle and Nagisa and Chihaya were firing away blindly into Ooe's shadow form, their bullets probably weren't harming the snake at all, but providing a distraction while Joker and Skull caught their breaths.

"Look at my mom, being a badass!" Skull raved, his eyes bright and smile wide, as he beamed at his mother in pride, however before he could allow himself to stare for too long, he shook his head and muttered "Mona's out, right?"

"Yeah" Joker replied, as he did, Panther herself came to heal them, like Skull, she looked exhausted.

"That things putting out waaaaayyyyy too much firepower!" she exclaimed "If it wasn't for my healing spells on you, you'd be dead right now, or seriously hurt"

"Then we need to take it down, quickly, we can't take too much more of this" Joker said, "Skull another of couple of seconds and we'll do the same thing again, we need to wear it down..."

"Understood" Skull panted.

Joker allowed himself a second, this battle seemed unwinnable, but so many others had done as well, they'd do this.

They'd get this letter and save this country.

"Okay, three, two... one, NOW!" Joker exclaimed, as he and Skull leapt up from behind their cover and went to charge at the thing once again.

and that's when everything went wrong.

* * *

It knew.

It wasn't a mindless snake, as the battle had progressed Ooe had been watching their movements and knew Joker was the leader giving them the orders. Ignoring the blonde boy next to him, five of the heads struck Joker at once all from different angles, he had no chance to block them all and felt fangs tear into his body. Roaring in pain, he was flung backwards over the rubble and next to Panther, Ohya and Mishima. Panther instantly set to work on healing him...

But then looked up, to see five snakes pressing their bodies flat and coming directly towards them.

"CRAP!" Panther exclaimed, in those last seconds she set up a feeble shield, as the force of the impact destroyed the floor beneath them, the last thing Joker saw before the world went black, was those glowing yellow eyes.

Panther's shield absorbed a fatal impact, but broke many of her bones in the process. The blonde girl felt herself fall into an abyss, the force of the bodyslam was that great, they had fallen several floors below the restaurant, leaving holes in ceilings and floors, before they landed somewhere and the last thing Panther saw before the world went black, was bits of Shido's palace about to fall on top of her. Ohya and Mishima had fallen with them, all four of them now buried beneath a mountain of rubble, several decks below the restaurant.

Skull was unable to move, their leader had been taken out. Everyone had been taken out.

He was the only one left.

He couldn't just stop there, he forced his frozen limbs to move, as he swung down at the heads that had all attacked Joker at once, the brute force of his impact and his continued strikes managed to detach another two heads from their bodies, he placed his hand over his face, as the burning liquid started to burn away at his clothes and skin.

"FUCK!" He bellowed in agony, now he knew what it was like without Panther's healing.

He turned his eyes and quickly surveyed the scene, to see that five heads were remaining and three of them were attacking him, the other two were creeping up behind his mother and...

Blindly running forward, he swung his bat just in time, as it was knocked backwards, his mother, Chihaya and Sojiro turned around to see where the head had snuck up on them.

"THANKS SON!" Nagisa exclaimed, managing to fire a well aimed bullet into the stunned head, Skull's used his persona to fire a bolt of electricity at the head which stunned it further, before he finished it off with his trustworthy bat. The nails on his bat were stained with the snake's blood, he felt it in his hair, on his clothes, he was in agony and exhausted, but he couldn't finish yet.

4 heads remained. All four of them were now encircling the final 4 people left to fight them.

Chihaya was out of ammo, as her gun clicked uselessly, Nagisa reloaded (having been taught by Iwai on the front deck, before they had all entered) and lifted her shaking hands to the beast, Sojiro had his gun drew and was using his body to shield Oracle's own. Whereas the four heads lingered there for a couple of seconds, Skull knew all four of them were going to charge directly at him at once. If he was knocked out of battle, then the other three (or four counting Oracle) were as good as dead.

It was his turn now, his turn to save everyone.

The heads struck.

Skull, in a moment of brilliance, span around in a circle, his hand outstretched, as each of the attacking heads felt the end of his bat and withdrew, however before he could celebrate, one of the detached limbs found itself near their cover, like a hospipe it sprayed them with the liquid.

"HOW MUCH BLOOD DOES EFFIN' THIS THING HAVE!" Skull roared, ignoring the agony he was in he shielded his mother and moved them quickly to the left. Sojiro had no time to move and was hit with the stuff, using his body to shield Oracle, the liquid burnt away through his shirt and left his bare back exploding in blisters and cuts.

Chihaya was crawling away, sobbing in pain.

"Ryuji..." came a quiet whisper from his mother.

Skull looked back at her, she was unharmed, two heads were rounding on Sojiro while one was hovering in front of him. While she looked terrified, she was not injured. Unlike him, as he realised he must have looked like he was on the brink of death.

"Mom..." he wheezed, coughing up blood as he did so.

"Ryuji..." she muttered, nearly on the verge of tears "We... we can't go on like this... you can't..." she said, openly sobbing now.

"We'll get out of this mom, I promise" Ryuji said to her, underneath all the sweat, grime and blood he managed to smile back at her, as she hardened her resolve.

Four heads left, there was no way out of this. They'd simply have to do it.

"OKAY, BRING IT ON SHIT-HEADS!" Skull exclaimed, facing them, preparing to remove the head in front of him, as it hissed dangerously...

Nagisa gasped then, realising another head was on her son's left, as he raised his arms to deal with the one in his sights, the other one widened it's jaws and with it's fangs sharpened it leapt towards her son.

She reacted on instinct.

 _ **"RYUJI!"**_

He had no time to react, his mother shoved him to the ground, the snake's jaw's closed around her instead, with such force that tore the woman in half.

Skull looked behind him to see his mother's lifeless corpse being flung around by the vile snake, the two halves of her were leaking blood and guts everywhere, Skull could only watch in horrified silence, as his mother was reduced to a bloody mess in mere seconds, the blood from the snake, melting her body into a red sludge. Within 30 seconds the only thing that was left of her, were her already dissolving hair and bits of her clothes.

"M-m-mom..." he felt himself utter in horrified disbelief.

The snake was rounding on him again, three heads at the ready, while the other one was tearing the skin off Sojiro's back.

Ooe hissed in delight.

"Mom" Skull muttered, his face was hot and it wasn't because of the blood, tears were already pouring from his eyes.

In a few seconds he'd strike.

"ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Skull's scream, almost tore his vocal chords apart, but he no longer cared, Seiten Taisei was behind him and fired a bolt of electricity so powerful the lights (that were left in this destroyed restaurant) exploded in their sockets, the room went dark as it did, one of the heads in this beam was vaporised instantly, the air was static and the force of the grieving bolt of power, hit side of the restaurant at full force, tearing through the wall itself, a giant crevasse opened as the windows shattered and the outside winds swept over the place.

Skull had blown a hole in the ship.

But even that wasn't enough.

The recoil of the bolt was so strong, it sent an already weakened and exhausted Skull soaring backwards, into the earlier hole that Joker and the others had fallen down. Skull was unconscious before he fell, his motionless body landed a few floors above where Joker, Panther, Ohya and Mishima were, yet the last of his energy was gone, he was down and out, his last thoughts before he fell into blackness being that of his mother...

"Mom..." he wheezed before the world went black.

* * *

Game over.

The Phantom Thieves had been defeated.

Three heads were left and Sojiro and Chihaya were the last two left, Sojiro had abandoned his gun and was now shielding his daughter Futaba with all the strength he had left, yet he was rapidly losing this fight, as he lost more and more blood.

"No..." he muttered weakly "No... not again... not like Wakaba... not again..."

Chihaya meanwhile had no chance, a spray of poison from Ooe's snake shadow had left her bleeding, but had also (to her horror) melted the bag she had carried on her, all of her tarot cards had been melted, they were all gone.

She was useless without them.

She sat there, accepting her end. This really was it, this was the end...

WHAM!"

A piece of debris hit one of the snake's head so hard, it was crushed underneath it, the final two heads hissed and turned in the direction of the stage, where the projectile had come from, as did Chihaya and Sojiro.

"Now... you'll listen to what _**I** _have to say, Ooe!" came a menacing voice, from none other than Yoshida himself.

* * *

Yoshida heard the voice inside of him, however just as he stood up, rubble piled on top of him, the shocked politician found himself trapped, barely able to breath, the poison taking hold over his entire system, he couldn't see a thing, his limbs were trapped under the crushing weight.

"I'm going to die like this" he realised.

"No, you won't" the voice in his head reassured him "Believe in yourself".

"Believing in myself won't get me out of this!" Yoshida snapped at it "I'm trapped!"

"That, you are" the voice replied "Trapped by your own doubts and self-pity that have prevented you from reaching your full potential, tell me, are you really No-Good Tora?"

"I..." Yoshida couldn't answer that question, screams and crashes were coming from outside, the sounds were all muffled to him but he could tell his friends were in trouble.

"Well, are you!?"

Yoshida trembled.

"Answer the question!?" the voice demanded "ARE YOU!?"

"NO!" Yoshida roared back, feeling a rage build in his gut.

"Excellent, it's time for you to light the fire of revolution in order to create a new Japan!" The voice exclaimed triumphantly, "You've spent all these years allowing others to put you down, under false allegations and their own shortcomings, why should you always take the fall for them!? How will you change anything the way you are!?"

"I won't!" Yoshida admitted "I never could..."

"But now you will!" The voice commanded "Show them the determination in your heart, show that you are no longer the fool you once were! Show that politician Ooe that you are no longer anybody's punching bag, the years of wasting away and self pity are gone!"

"YES!" Yoshida exclaimed, his body felt light then, despite the crushing weight of the rubble "IT'S TIME I MADE A DIFFERENCE!"

"You will be reborn from this day forward!" The voice roared "Your friends are in danger right now, they have been defeated by Ooe, but you never were! Show him that you still aren't!" the voice demanded "You are Toranosuke Yoshida, you are a determined man who never gave up his dream, but now you will succeed and no longer dream!"

"I'm ready for this!" Yoshida exclaimed.

"Good, now let's form a contract, I am thou, thou art I..." upon this Yoshida felt blinding agony in his head, as he screamed to the high heavens above, yet no one heard him...

"...from this day onwards, you will fight the political stain that threatens to destroy the people you were sworn to serve! Fulfil your duty as a man of the people and... FIGHT!"

"YES, COME TO ME... TOKU!" Yoshida screamed, knowing the name of his persona instinctively, unable to move his arms, he felt the mask planted on his face, however with a gust of air, the rubble was flung from him, moving his damaged arm, he reached up and tore it from his face, as heavy winds whirled around him. When they settled, Yoshida was no longer, No-Good Tora, as his persona Toku, stood behind him.

His persona took the form of an old man, wearing large black robes that made him appear three times the size and height of Yoshida himself, the robes themselves looked fit for a shogun and the way his persona stood there had an aura of superiority to it, Yoshida himself had a bowler hat perched on his head, an black blazer, a brown buttoned waistcoat, a white-shirt underneath that and a red tie, with his trousers being the same shade of soil-brown that his waistcoat was. He looked down to see he had two similarly coloured gloves on his hands and in one of his hands a kind of cane had appeared.

"This is my persona... my true self..." he muttered in awe, he lifted the cane (which looked a lot like a walking stick) as he did, he noticed his persona behind him withdraw a sword the height of Yoshida himself. The sword mirrored the movements of Yoshida's cane, he felt the air move with the movement of both cane and sword.

A scream caught his attention, twisting around it's then he saw Chihaya moments from her end.

Reacting instantly he swung his cane as the sword behind him sliced through the air, the force of it sent a large piece of rubble barrelling towards one of Ooe's snake heads which flattened the vile thing. Ooe's remaining two heads turned towards him.

"Now... you'll listen to what _**I** _have to say, Ooe!"

* * *

"Yoshida!" Chihaya yelled in warning, as the remaining two heads tried to attack him from different angles, Yoshida swiped his sword wildly as a gust of wind and dozens of pieces of debris kept the heads at bay and the previously lethal dollops of blood from this snake were blown away from Yoshida due to the winds emitting from his sword. But despite this, the heads kept up their pursuit, his awakening had cleansed his previous wounds, but it wouldn't be long before they were onto him again.

"All I'm doing is keeping them in place!" Yoshida exclaimed, he had to think... raw wind-power alone wouldn't be enough, the most obvious answer would be to used the debris, fallen tables or whatever else was lying around to crush their heads like he had just had done to save Chihaya, but he had caught it off guard. Now they were on guard, it wouldn't be that easy.

It was then the answer hit him.

"OOE! COME AND GET YOUR TREASURE!" Yoshida bellowed, he ceased the gusts of winds and dropped his cane to the side, as the snake heads leaped at him, at the last second he leapt backwards and quickly ducked under the second head, leaping backwards again, he drew his cane and began to twist it, as the snakes continued their pursuit. Yoshida kept on twisting and twisting, forming a circle in the air as the heads leapt over each other in order to get to him, dragged the other bled out, detached heads with them, it's whole body moved forward.

The force of the wind however, was causing something of a mini twister, the outside winds were certainly helping this process, soon the snake heads were entangled together, as Yoshida smiled, he had them where he wanted them. Before they could detach themselves, he swiped his cane once again...

"IT'S TIME TO SILENCE THEM, TAKU!" Yoshida roared.

A cascade of heavy rubble fell directly on the struggling heads, as the final heads were crushed the whole thing melted into a black sludge.

"It's over!" Yoshida exclaimed, a smile on his face, he had done it! He had really done it! The Phantom Thieves who he had backed all this time... well he was no longer backing them. He was one of them. Like his persona had told him, the time for dreaming was over, now was his time to actually do something!

However In his momentary high, he failed to grasp how bad the situation was.

* * *

He first noticed the cat, Mona, as he looked around the destroyed restaurant, he was lying there unconsinocus, picking the little thing up, he shook it slightly.

"Hey... Hey! Are you okay!?"

Mona felt himself stirring back into life, he could barely move his body, but he could see that it was Yoshida who was holding them and judging by his clothing and the persona behind him...

"Y-you had an awakening...?" he asked weakly.

"Yes, I managed it, Ooe has been defeated" Yoshida mused, as he pulled the letter of recommendation from one of the newly formed pockets "We have the letter Mona".

"Thank God" Mona said, "What about the others... are they okay?"

* * *

It wasn't a pretty sight.

A terrified Chihaya had to recount it all to them, Nagisa's death the defeat of the Phantom Thieves, Skull's grief that tore a hole in the ship and how Yoshida had only managed to defeat a severely weakened form of Ooe. Yoshida's short lived victory turned to horror in mere seconds...

That was just one of the five letters they had to collect.

Then, what were the rest going to be like!?

"Joker and the others, fell down there!?" Mona asked, referencing the hole in the floor (he was still being held by Yoshida, unable to move on his own), as Chihaya nodded.

"We need to get them! We can't leave them!" Mona exclaimed.

"We need to get back to the safe room!" Chihaya squeaked "Look over there, look at him!"

She was referencing Sojiro, who had passed out on top of Oracle, although the girl was unharmed, the café owner was a completely different story, it looked as thought his back had been put through a meat blender. It was clear that if he didn't receive treatment soon, he'd die.

Mona was about to argue back, when a coughing caught their attention, a weakened, bloodied and dust coated Ooe, stumbled from out the rubble.

He froze upon seeing Yoshida and the others.

"Wait! Please!" he begged, going to his knees "I-I-I- ca-can explain, I didn't... I wasn't..."

"Ooe" Yoshida said simply.

"Yoshida" he muttered looking up at the other politician.

Yoshida slightly moved his cane, as a ruined chair leg whacked Ooe in the face, and the pathetic politician was knocked out.

"Do shut up" Yoshida finished.

"So, what now!?" Chihaya squeaked, looking over at Ooe's unconscious shadow "Do we finish him off, change his heart!?"

"NO!" Mona roared, before anyone else could speak "We do that, Shido will know how far we are in infiltrating his own palace, Joker figured it out. I knew what he wanted to do, we have to take him with us and keep him prisoner".

"Keep a shadow prisoner!?" Chihaya inquired, looking over at Ooe, "But there's no way... we can't carry everyone!" she squeaked.

Yoshida sighed, previously he'd be like Chihaya, he'd have good intentions but have no idea what to do.

He had to serve the people now, he had to act.

Without another word, he used his wind powers to lift the prone Sojiro into the air, it took a lot of his energy to keep the man afloat based on air pressure alone, but it was something Yoshida had to do, if they wanted to get him back into the safe room and to keep him alive.

"Carry the girl, I'll get Ooe!" Yoshida commanded, as Chihaya obeyed him and propped the light Oracle on her back, Yoshida took Ooe's heavy shadow and made sure the man he loathed was safely on his back, Mona managed to curl up in one of Yoshida's overlarge pockets.

"I can sense loads of shadows coming to investigate" Mona muttered, "Now that Ooe's hold of this place has weakened and we've destroyed his ultimate shadow form, plus the noise we made..." he sighed there "I guess we can't get to Joker and the others after all..."

"They'll handle themselves, that's all we can hope for now" Yoshida said, yet he couldn't help but take one last look down the hole where Mishima, Ohya, Joker, Skull and Panther had fallen into. Returning to the safe room with news of Nagisa's death, the others all missing, a shadow prisoner and Sojiro on death's door wasn't going to be the morale boost they all wanted or needed.

He sighed, there really was nothing else he could do now, other than get themselves to safety.

Running through the entrance (the concrete wall from earlier had vanished when the snake had been slain), they soon found themselves back in the main lobby again, no one paid them any mind, despite them being covered in blood, dust, sweat and leaving a mess after themselves. Especially with Sojiro essentially floating behind them, Yoshida could feel his energy sapping away fast, once he got into the safe room, he was going to collapse from exhaustion.

So much had happened, the first of them had fallen, their leader had been defeated and separated from them, they were left as the shaken survivors, it was a victory, they had their first letter.

But it didn't feel great at all.

* * *

 **A/N: So for the notes behind Yoshida's persona Toku, it's based on Tokugawa Ieyasu, known as one of the three Unifiers of Japan and the first Shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate, that ruled Japan under the Edo period. For those of you interested, Edo used to be the name of Tokyo, so I thought the man that started the period that lasted for over two centuries, in the city Yoshida now resides in would be a fitting choice for his persona. Granted Tokugawa was known to be a cruel and feared leader which is the opposite to how Yoshida would be. But the edo period did bring an era of stability and economic growth to Japan, which in a way is what Yoshida inspires to do as well, while seeing that Shido does not take power.**

 **Anyway if any of my history is wrong regarding the matter, feel free to let me know! I did struggle for a while deciding on Yoshida's persona. His outfit was set in stone from the start, but his persona... Tokugawa seemed the polar opposite from Yoshida from what I could gather. But then I remembered that Milady from the game, who was a scheming villain in the Three musketeers was the persona for sweet, little Haru. Plus many outlaws make up other persona users as well (e.g. Captain Kidd) so I let it pass. Anyway I seem to love going for the historical figures, but next awakening maybe something different...**

 **Okay then. so we had our first death this chapter, the group is truly separated, Ohya, Mishima, Akira and Ann in one group. Skull on his own and grieving, and the rest of the leaderless group back at the safe room. I wanted to place the characters in groups or situations that are far out of their comfort zones so they can develop further, the stakes are truly raised for next chapter and all that follows! We'll see Igor next chapter and the chapter afterwards we'll get our long awaited debut of Shinya. Now onto answering reviews from last chapter!**

 **Shadow of a queen- Thanks again for reviewing and yes old man Tora did fight back this chapter and glad you liked the prospect of Palaces within Palaces it will make things complicated for sure.**

 **Ulrich362- Many predictions and you'll have to wait and see if they come true or not and the twist of Yoshida being the source of Ooe's distorted desires was a way to make the battle and connection between them more personal and how at the end of this chapter, it's Yoshida who finally got to tell Ooe to "shut up" but expect more interactions between prisoner Ooe and Yoshida soon to wrap up their little arc, anyway glad you are finding this interesting.**

 **todpolle- Sorry to hear you didn't like Judge's design, hopefully Yoshida's awakening and design this chapter is an improvement over that, and you had a point about Futaba. Anyway hopefully these next awakenings feel less like cop out's for you and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **Mad Hatter Stories- Tried looking through your suggestion, but it just didn't feel right. As Yoshida is trying to help out Japan and oppose Shido it just felt right to use a Japanese historical figure. But I did love your suggestion and hope for more from you in the future. I'm still considering your one for Hifumi. Glad you like how unique the story is and hopefully this chapter lived up to the hype! Can't wait to hear more from you!**

 **Ford114- Other way round, Ooe used to admire Yoshida, but Yoshida was something of an idiot back then and to be honest I didn't even realise the snake was supposed to have 8 heads, I just put it as 12. Ah well, made the fight harder that was for sure. Also about your suggestion, I do like it, but have an allergy to anything SAO related. I consider it the series with the greatest potential that was wasted but the IT president will be worse than he is in canon, but you'll have to wait and see. I'll get to reviewing chapter 3 of persona vein either today or in the next couple of days as I'm enjoying that fic as well, anyway great to hear from you! Hope you liked this chapter!**

 **RoastedButter- Yeah I got a bit to carried away with the confidants looking cool, but hopefully the fight this chapter had the OG's back in the spotlight and I will try and keep them revelant. It is proving difficult with the amount of characters present, but I guess that's the fun in writing, wouldn't be an interesting fic if I didn't receive criticism or suggestions on how to improve which is why I value reviews so much, hope to hear from you in the next review!**

 **Okay thanks again everyone, yep I know another fast update but I just had to get this chapter out, next chapter might take a little longer, but I'll get too it eventually.**


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